Palaisville-de-L'empereur - PrancePalaisville-de-L'empereur - Prance
9th of Chillfrost 16 EoH
Five days after the storm ravaged the western half of the Griffon Kingdoms, the Emperor lay beneath his cloth, his great hall empty as the grave it was. A lump of flesh beneath a tarp trying to find any form of passing time.
The paraplegic pony could not read a book, or even simply watch the clouds go by. It takes lips to make popping sounds or whistle. A nose is needed for someone to hum or even snort in indignation. He could speak and he could see, but it takes another person to be heard.
It would also be nice if the Stewards hadn’t limited his use of parchment after deciding to use the Mechanical Scribe at his hooves to dictate his memoirs to. Though to be fair, he had been using about three feet per minute for several years and only reached his two hundred and fifth birthday.
Entire days would go by in silence, his hall, his tomb. Empty. Alone. As if the pony who had forged the great Empire were no more than a stamp on a shelf. There to be accessed when approval for military action was required, or when the Steward could not be bothered to see a diplomat.
The slight scraping of tiny claws on stone echoing off the stone walls immediately caught the Emperor’s attention. His special eyes turning behind the drop cloth covering him, fixating on a small door mouse scurrying through a crack in the wall.
“Hello, little one,” the Emperor greeted eagerly, speaking softly so as to not scare the rodent away.
The mouse finished scurrying through the crack, slipping into the hall and sniffing the air in search of food.
“Would you like to hear a story while you search this chamber for your supper? I’m afraid all of my stories are old, but I have many good ones,” the Emperor offered.
He knew the mouse could not talk back of course, or even comprehend his words. But that was something he had to ignore for his own sanity.
“You would? Thank you,” the Emperor said quietly, pretending there had been a reply so he could whisper his story to the hungry rodent. “Let me think back… Ah, yes! Just over three thousand years ago, my first son and I embarked on a journey to visit the Neighponese Emperor. It’s really quite the story, you see the journey across the sea itself, while dull and uninteresting, held a surprise for us at the end.
“The sea around Neighpone is filled with all manner of monstrous creatures, and despite the military escort fleet sent to protect my son and I, a great green Kraken burst from the sea as we drew into port, enraged at our blasphemous existence outside of its belly! The beast was huge, easily twice the size of our galleon, and a good deal more ugly too. I swear to you the beast roared as it wrapped its mighty tentacles around our ship, determined to drag us to the darkest depths of the sea as feed for its vile spawn!
“As our ship slammed into the monster’s side I was left standing amidships, staring the beast directly in its purple hate-filled eye. I could tell he wanted nothing more than to eat me, but wasn’t about to go down without a fight. So I grabbed a boarding axe and got ready to chop the beat’s limbs apart. Just as I had the axe in hoof, my son cried out in pain. I wheeled around to find him hanging from one of the beast’s limbs, coiled tightly about his-”
Three loud knocks on the great hall’s twin doors sent the mouse running off in a panic even as they warmed the Emperor’s heart.
“Enter,” he called loudly so his voice would carry through the doors.
The door swung open, revealing Princess Cadence. “Greetings, Your Majesty,” the pink alicorn chirped as she trotted into the hall, leaving her escorts behind and closing the door.
“Cadence! A welcome surprise,” the Emperor exclaimed in genuine delight as his favorite make-believe-niece walked up to him and sat down a conversational distance from his immobile form. “Are you hungry? I’m certain I can convince somepony to bring you something to eat or drink. Snack on. Read. Anything you like!”
Cadence frowned, sincere regret behind her eyes. While Cadence was not a changeling, nopony would have needed arcane empathy to feel the relief at seeing somepony else in the Emperor’s voice.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have much time today. My husband is expecting me to take him to a play in half an hour,” Cadence apologized. “I’m here for some quick business, and then I have to teleport back home. I’m free tomorrow, would you like to do lunch?”
“That would be nice! Unfortunately, I seem to be lacking a stomach,” the Emperor joked. “But please do come over. We’ll call it a diplomatic emergency or something. What is it you need today?”
Cadence reached into her saddlebags with her magic, pulling a large mirror from the bag and holding it up at an angle the Emperor could easily see.
“A friend of ours has a few important questions for you,” Cadence explained. “I couldn’t answer them myself and I felt the simplest way to get a message from her to you would be to let you talk to her in person… Of course, we both know she can’t simply walk into your city.”
“Palace,” the Emperor corrected automatically. “It’s actually all one building. Did you know my old house is in the middle of it? Just kept building add- I’m sorry. That was unprofessional. I presume Queen Bladestorm has questions about her job? Is she waiting?”
Cadence nodded, her horn flaring brightly as she activated the mirror's enchantments. “Yes, just a moment…” Cadence replied.
The mirror turned black, ceasing to reflect as the room it had shown faded away. The blackness too faded away, melting to show a view of the interior of a timber keep, thousands of kilometers away from Prance, and a unicorn.
Queen Bladestorm was a mare, naturally. She had dark Lemon Chiffon colored fur which contrasted sharply with her deep emerald green eyes, and a vibrant yet deep orangish-brown mane and tail. The long flowing locks of her mane had been braided into one larger braid at the back and two smaller braids at the sides. Each braid was held in place by a small scrap of brown leather with decorative silver coiled whips. A symbol which matched the cutiemark stamped on her athletically muscular flanks.
She possessed an overall exotic look, but what made her more than a simple rare beauty was the scars.
The Queen had many obvious scars. Too many to be counted. The most prominent one ran across her nose, between her eyes and over the right side of her forehead, and had most certainly came from the stroke of a sword. The pale yet thick line of scar tissue matched the others on her legs, barrel, sides, and flanks, which crisscrossed her body.
Insane as it might seem, the scars added to her beauty. She wore them like ornaments. Several made more prominent by trimming back her fur or by adding a few piercings to draw the eye to the scars with the shimmer of silver. They were her trophies, and she was a warrior.
“Greetings, your highness,” the Emperor said, offering a courteous greeting even though Queen Bladestorm was a Queen in name only.
There had never been a warrior he did not respect. Not even those who stood against him. Anypony willing to fight for what they believed in deserved courtesy in his mind.
“G’day there, mate!” Blade replied with an eager grin. “I was hope’n ya weren't covered up so we could have a bit of a war wound topp’n match. Sure, you’d win but it would still be fun!”
The Emperor almost managed to make his jaw drop as the sheer unexpected hilarity slipped forth from the Queen’s lips. Cadence politely covered her mouth with a hoof, trying not to laugh.
“You’re from the Outbuck?” The Emperor asked after a moment’s composure, not having expected to ever meet anypony from the south-eastern Zebrican desert.
“Right ya are! Brismane specifically. See this scar on my face? Bloody wanker of Dropbear thought he’d try and take my face clean off. Long story, related to how I got way up here. Anywho, nuff yabber’n! Right now, got a bit of problem with my job,” the bandit explained jovially. “I know you want your bug and litch friend all safe an sound. An I don’t mind bring’n ‘em back to my place for a beer-n-barby till Cadence can take ‘em off my hooves, honest. Thing is though, the Griffon Kingdom’s bloody enormous! Ya know where them blokes got to, mate?”
“Um, yes! Yes, I do,” the Emperor stammered, still quite taken aback by his expectations of a brooding gravely voiced mare with an affinity for bats having been shattered. “According to the last report from my spymaster, Repose and Fell have reached the base of the Kaluga Mountains and are fleeing north from the forces chasing them. They passed very close to the town of Novomoturynisk as of last night, and are traveling relatively straight north.”
“Gotcha! Thanks, been rather hard to find them myself,” Blade thanked, offering the Emperor an extra large smile. “One last thing, those soldiers your wanker of a Steward has chase’n after them, anything you can tell me? I prefer not to be surprised.”
“Yes,” the Emperor answered once more. “The squad has lost three members so far. The changeling is responsible for one. The others died from exposure. There was a very bad blizzard a few days ago. They also have a Mohrg with them. I don’t even know how their necromancer managed to create one.”
Blade and Cadence winced together, their expressions almost identical.
“Ponyfeathers,” Blade cursed, “That’s gonna be extra if you want me to kill that thing for ya, mate! We’re talking at least five barrels.”
Cadence turned her head to look at the mirror and coughed politely. “Bladestorm, that’s only enough to buy a bottle of wine or a pint of beer. The Barrel isn’t like the Bit,” she explained.
“Oye! I know what it’s bloody well worth!” Blade protested. “I feel I’m owed a stiff drink and a naughty or five if’n I take that thing out.”
“You would be. They were banned for good reasons,” the Emperor sighed wearily. “I’ll be sure to send you a drink if you do. Don’t fight it if you do not have to. I doubt even your luck would save you. I‘ve killed a lot of things in my life, but only one Mohrg. And I’ve fought several.”
“Right, right,” Blade said dismissively. “Avoid the danger. Don’t you worry your bedsheet off. I’ll get yer mates safely tucked away in my fort and everything will be just fine. Before I port on over and start comb’n the mountains, is there anythi'n else that might have slipped your mind which I should know, mate?”
The Emperor thought for a moment and then explained. “Yes, actually! I was also told there is a Felin amongst them who is not very well fit with her squadmates. She’s been coming into conflict with the necromancer they brought with them quite a bit. I think she might desert, or be willing to sabotage her flightmates efforts if contacted. I’d rather you not kill her. It’s a shame to waste good soldiers. I can arrange her end easily enough.”
“I’ll play that hoof as it’s dealt, can’t guarantee anything more than that I’m afraid,” Blade apologized. “Right, I’m off. Oh! Right, while I’ve got your ears, Cadence, ye’r not gonna shaft me on my payment, right?”
“Of course not!” Cadence said, honestly taken aback. “I would never-”
“Good! Just checking. I’ll catch you lot later!” Blade informed, her horn lighting up as the mirror faded through black to become a normal mirror.
“What did you promise her?” The Emperor asked curiously.
“I promised to hook her up with a specific sort of stallion,” Cadence giggled. “Normally I’d help somepony find love as a way to pass an afternoon, but she turned down five million bits for an arranged date with somepony just her type.”
“Hmmm, interesting,” the Emperor mused.
Cadence nodded and packed the mirror away. “Yeah, she’s a real character. I’ve known her for years. Rather odd the places your old friends end up when they grow up.”
“That can be quite true,” the Emperor agreed. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yes, you will. Goodbye!” Cadence promised as she stood up, then left the hall with a wave of her hoof. The stone doors slamming shut behind her.
The Emperor spent a few minutes in silent contemplation after Cadence left. Calculating various elements of his plan to at last rid himself of the hell in which he had been trapped for so many centuries.
“Yes… That would improve their odds,” he said allowed to himself as he reached his decision.
Turning to his mechanical scribe the Emperor ordered, “Message empty room. Begin. See what happens if Soldier Light Step learns their mission is illegal. Do so in such a way where if she already knows she will not become suspicious of being monitored. If she deserts the flight, report back to me with details. End.”
The messenger machine whirred to life, quill dutifully scratching out the Emperor’s command. He wished he could smile. It felt good to have the ability to wage war against a despicable enemy once again. If only he did not need to wait several days if not a week to make his next move.
Felling Axe - 9th of Chillfrost 16 EoH
Kaluga Mountains - Griffon Kingdoms
The last five days must have been sponsored by Tartarus itself. Repose and I barely had time to even discuss why Prench soldiers were trying to kill us, simply because, well, Prench soldiers were trying to kill us! They were relentless, and worst of all after the brief skirmish in the keep they refused to engage us in direct combat.
The pegasi had a major speed advantage over us and used it to fly ahead and ready traps. Pitfalls, punji stakes, deadfalls, a few rigged grenades, landmines. All of the good stuff. The worst part was they were able to prevent us from deviating from a nearly straight northward route by having some of their troops waiting in ambush. They never let themselves be seen, but they were there, ready to open fire any time we tried to move to avoid the hazard-filled path ahead.
While unusual, I understood their strategy. They didn’t want to face us in open combat again. Who could blame them? A changeling Soldier's danger sense can be hard to beat. They were trying to kill us via boobytrap, but mostly trying to get us tired, stressed, and unable to react before at last coming in for the kill.
On the downside, the two of us were tired, run ragged, and out of rations. Unfortunately, as a litch, Repose didn’t really have much of a ‘reserve’ in terms of stored energy. Within the next day or so, Repose would starve to death, and we’d learn if I could feed off him while he was undead. I’d only gotten about six hours of sleep in the last five days, which was starting to push the limits of my endurance. The Pegasi were close to succeeding at their gambit.
But on the upside, five days of this torment had gotten me back in shape. Not to my peak, not even close, but the soldier's actions had been just the cash course I’d needed to get my brain back into the game. Their unintentional Basic Training and Specialization Course had Repose working in a more military mindset as well. Hopefully, his ancient officer’s training would be enough to outsmart our pursuers and give them the slip sooner rather than later.
“Fell, ten-o-clock, what do you see?” Repose whispered as we continued our slow crawl through the scrubland.
Squinting through the dead, snow covered bushes in the indicated direction, I saw what looked to be a cuboid shape. A quick shift of my eyes magnified the object. Yes, cuboid, regular, largely buried by the snow, clearly a structure.
I shifted again, changing my eyes to look into the infrared spectrum. The structure’s shape was warmer than the world around it. There had to be a fire inside.
“That’s likely a cabin,” I replied quietly.
“Anypony home?” Repose asked.
“Can’t tell at this distance. There seems to be a fire, or perhaps the cabin is well insulated,” I proposed.
“We haven’t faced an explosive trap in two days… They are likely out of munitions. It might provide cover from their bolts. But more importantly, it has to have some form of food inside,” Repose mused aloud. “If we go for it, could you cover me while we loot it?”
“And if it’s occupied?” Fell asked.
“All the better. The Pegasi won't go near it, their uniforms will give them away as Prench Soldiers and thus spark a war. They’d have to kill everything in there and they are already nervous about fighting us face to face. The Griffons living there will attack us on sight because we are made of food. That will provide us with the justification to kill them and take their stuff,” he said decisively.
“It could be a trap,” I pointed out.
“Yes, but I’m at half my reserves. It’s only going to get worse from here. Either we make a stand or we find supplies,” He sighed.
I nodded, everything seemed logical to me. “Let’s go,” I said, starting a long slow direction change.
We walked to the cabin using a large arcing path, hoping our pursuers wouldn’t notice the change. Each step as we approached the cabin brought a fresh bucket of dread to my hearts. They didn’t notice our deviation or they wanted us to go there.
The nervous adrenaline rush activated my danger sense, which surprisingly had nothing to say. Of course, if danger were two seconds away I wouldn’t know for another tick of the cosmic clock.
As we got closer, we could see the cabin in detail. Or rather, the wooden yurt. The squarish shape of the structure had been an illusion. It was actually a cylinder but masked in show with only the front side visible, the curved surface containing the door and a single small window had appeared flat.
The scrub and brush had been cleared away from the yurt, giving it a small yard. A large, long, snakelike lump in the snow at the edge of the yard was the only non-flat part of the cleared area. I assumed it was an earthwork wall to mark the property's border.
The clear view of the yurt showed us things we had been unable to see at a distance. Like the yard full of bright red stained snow. And the six corpses piled in front of it.
A family of griffons. Tercel, hen, four chicks. All very very dead. Even at this distance, the cause of death was clear. Something had shredded them alive. The wounds ripped into their bodies could only be explained by a board covered in barbed hooks being dragged across them like some kind of meat cutter in a butcher’s shop.
More horrifying than their means of death, the matter of their arrangement. Stacked into a squarish pile, sorted by size. Largest on the bottom, smallest atop.
“Nope. We bail, we find another food source!” I said firmly.
“There won't be another source,” Repose said after a moment of silence.
“Griffons wouldn’t do this. They would have butchered the bodies and taken the meat away!” I warned.
“Yes. This was the soldiers or a monster. I know,” he sighed. “But you are my friend, you could starve to death starting tomorrow, and we won't find another place like this anytime soon.”
Buck! Why did he have to be right?
“Fine,” I sighed. “But we do this quick. In out, no delay. And you blast the door open before hoof to check for an explosive trap.”
“Agreed,” Repose said decisively.
I reached beneath my cloak and into my saddlebag, fishing out my bag of crystals. I’d need my armor active for this. It was going to go horribly wrong. I just knew it.
Shrine crystal… Shrine crystal… Dry crystal... Shrine crystal… There! Charged power crystal. The last one… Well, it’s do or die. Maybe I could go back to my old hive and charge a few of them up one day.
Slipping the rest of the crystals back into my bag I slotted the charged gem into the hidden case on my abdomen.
“What are you doing?” Repose asked.
“Powering up the enchantments. Go, I’ll follow and cover you from the door,” I promised.
Repose nodded.
My armor clicked and hummed as the crystal’s stored energy oozed through its ancient components. Something hummed, the pitch rising until it left the audible range. The visor hissed lightly, seemingly upset about activating as the small series of concentric red circular outlines spread outwards, forming a ‘sight’ which would track where my weapon was pointing for me. A half second later and the blue compass markers crackled into existence at the bottom edge of my vision, and my armor began to grow warm.
I felt sorry for the poor thing. I’d have to take it to an enchanter's soon. The poor parts had to be loose, damaged, or just well worn by now. The years in the ground could not have helped it.
Repose dipped his head, firing a bright red ray spell at the door. The timbers smoldered under the hit, blackening as invisible flames took hold. Repose’s red aura engulfed the door, quickly ripping it free from the hinges as he hurled the door into the yard. The wood burst into flames, separating into large burning chunks which belched thick black smoke into the skies.
“That’s our cover, go!” Repose called, sprinting forwards towards the now open yurt.
I pulled my combo axe from under my cloak. A few words in the god’s tongue flashed across my visor in red, and the helmet's sight vanished, aligning to show where the weapon was aimed, which happened to be out of my field of view as I ran forwards to catch up to Repose.
He ducked into the door three seconds before I reached it myself. The yurt was large but made up of a single room like most structures of this kind. It also had almost all of its furnishings intact. Beds, bags, chairs, a table, plenty of the mechanical devices griffons treasure left where a family might set them aside midday. A full family’s home. Untouched.
I found it hard to believe that the soldiers chasing us would have left the interior perfectly intact…
Repose made a beeline for the chest next to the stone oven on the far wall and began digging through it. “Dried food, mostly meat, some fruit too, I think. I’m taking all of it!” He called loudly.
“Grab some of those quilts on your way out,” I asked.
My danger sense hit me like a collapsing building, screaming at me in the most urgent possible manner to turn around! Before I could even respond my armor’s visor flashed a warning, alerting me to movement behind me.
I spun, rearing up in the same motion to bring my axe to bear and support the weapon for a stable shot.
The small earthen wall we had walked over stood up, snow falling off in chunks like clumps of earth. The falling snow revealed a massive centipede-like body made from the bones of gods knew how many creatures. They formed a solid interlocking tube at least eight meters long, an exoskeleton of endoskeletal pieces, held aloft with dozens of legs formed in the same way.
The monsters upper body soared into the sky, the front three meters rising like the tail of a scorpion, but arched away from the body. The bones around the end split open, snapping open to reveal themselves to be massive dragon-like wings, the membranes formed from desiccated rotting skin stretched far too thin, six pairs of long blade-like stabbing limbs, and the monster’s head.
Gods help me, the head alone redefined terror. The monster’s head was formed from a pegasi, the skull acting like a nose and decorated with a glowing red runic circle. The entire ribcage turned sideways to form a gaping maw and teeth, with the entire digestive tract twisted into a braided tongue studded with bone barbs and hooks.
My scream of pure terror drowned out the monster’s delighted roar.
“RUN! BUCKING RUN!” Repose shrieked from behind me.
I couldn’t run. The monster’s dozens of legs had it scurrying towards me, tongue lashing greedily, sludge dripping from its maw. There was nowhere to run to.
My mind shut down and instinct took over. Snapping my weapon up I fired, the harpoon flew into the beast’s skull, missing the circle by just a few centimeters. The monster didn’t care. The iron harpoon had become a decorative piercing.
I jumped backward, armor assisting the leap, allowing me to land a short distance inside the yurt. The monster slammed into the front wall, wood splintered and cracked as the entire wall caved inwards from its bulk. The beast’s tongue whipped through the air, smashing into the floor and dragging backward, ripping chunks out of the wood planks like a plow tilling soil.
Flipping my axe around in my hoof I sprinted forwards, throwing all of my speed and weight into a single chop, aiming for the monstrous tongue. The axe bit deep into the coiled intestines. The beast screamed in rage, curling its tongue upwards and lashing it across my back.
Before the appendage could encircle my waist and drag me into its waiting gullet, something whipped me backward. I shot back like a rocket, slamming into the floor beside Repose as he threw a flurry of spellbolts into the creature’s face.
The bolts slammed home, exploding with sharp cracks, causing some of it’s bone body to flake off and pus to ooze from the wounds like blood. The monster bellowed, the roar shaking the Yurt enough for the fire to go out, plunging the interior into darkness with only a few rays of sunlight which managed to slip around the monster’s bulk and penetrate the splintered front wall to see by.
“RUN!” Repose screamed again. “DON’T FIGHT! RUN!”
“It will catch us!” I screamed back.
I snapped my axe up into a firing position again and pulled the tiller. Nothing. Still creating another round.
I searched the room in desperation. The monster scurried back, seemingly retreating, only to rush forward, and swing it’s scythe-like arms towards each other, slicing the damaged wall to pieces then frenziedly slashing at the air behind the new hole.
Repose fired off a few more spellbolts, turned, and threw one final one at the wall behind us, blasting a pony sized hole through the wall and melting some of the snow behind it. His telekinetic aura blazed, quickly ripping the contents of the food locker from their confines and tucking them into his cloak’s pockets.
My eyes landed on a large kitchen knife. I lunged for the tool, grabbing and throwing it in one smooth motion, missing the monster’s fleshy tongue, but striking the runic circle on its skull-nose. The monster recoiled, bellowing in pain as the knife chipped off a part of the circle.
Actual pain! That hurt it!
“SHOOT THE CIRCLE!” I screamed to be heard over the pained below.
“Won’t kill! Will enrage!” Repose called in a panic, horn blazing as he melted a tunnel through the snow.
I knew Repose was the expert here, but my gut told me it was injured. It had to be. We wouldn’t outrun this thing. It had to die, and now I knew how to hurt it. No Soldier runs when the enemy is wounded!
Gathering all my courage, I ran straight for the monster, screaming as loudly as I could in a mix of exhilaration and terror, axe raised to strike.
I had to jump! Following the warning I leaped upwards, the bottom of my cloak sliding atop one of the monster’s scythes. I landed, rolled and- LEFT!
With a pulse of magic, I cast one of the few spells I knew, changing the momentum of my roll instantly sliding to the left. A scythe-claw slammed into the floor where I had been, blasting a hole through the timber like a cannon shell.
I sprang up, using the second half of my tiny magic reserve to alter my momentum a second time, throwing all of my weight into one giant leap, landing atop the monster’s decaying-corpse head, slipping on a fold of loose skin.
The monster reared up, trying to throw me off. The harpoon! Reaching out I grabbed the rapidly decaying conjured spike, wrapping a leg around it to hold on. Safely hidden from view inside the shadow of the colossus, I managed to cling on as it thrashed violently and roared in furious desperation to find me.
I screamed back at it, mostly out of reflex, then drew back my axe and hacked away at the skull’s dome, gouging chunks out of the circle with each strike.
Back! Unsure of how to follow my senses instructions, I froze. The limp arm attached to the mangled corpse jerked, smashing directly into my gut and throwing me free of the monster’s body to hit the snow and roll, weapon flying away from me as I hit the ground.
Unable to stop myself from skidding across the snow I let myself slide until I stopped naturally. Shaken, I staggered back up to my hooves, unarmed, but ready to run for my dropped weapon-
“Huuuurrrt!” The monster whimpered in a foal’s voice. “Father fiiiixxx… Make better! Then fiiind you! Hurt you!”
What the bucking buck!? Did it just say it was going to get its dad to beat me up!? Back up a bucking second, this thing TALKED!?
It turned, giving me one clear look at the completely destroyed and unilluminated circle for a half second before it scurried away into the brush, holding its body low to the ground, vanishing within seconds.
Don’t question it. Can’t kill it. Get axe. Run. Run very fast. How fast? All of the fast.
I whipped my head around, searching for the axe, only to spy Repose pulling himself out of the snow tunnel into the open air.
“Don’t stand still! Run!” He shouted.
“Drove it off” I announced in disbelief.
“... How?!” He asked incredulously eyes widening as he realized the beast was actually gone.
“Not questioning it. Find axe. Then run. All of the run!” I said, trembling slightly.
“Uh, how gone is it?” Repose asked shakily.
“It said it was going to get its dad to beat me up. So we bucking run!” I elaborated.
“There's more than one Mohrg?” Repose squeaked. “Wait, it SPOKE!?”
I nodded. “Yeah. It did.”
Repose stood still for several seconds, eyes widening in increasing terror. Then he just wordlessly took off, sprinting headlong to the north.
“I agree,” I said as I took off after him at my top speed.
Kaluga Mountains - Griffon Kingdoms
9th of Chillfrost 16 EoH
Later that night, the six members of the Prench Scout Wings who were not tracking Repose and Fell sat hunched around the fire at their base camp. Or rather, a fire. A second fire burned at camp, far from the central fire. That fire was the Necromancer’s.
This particular camp was going to need to last a few days while ‘it’ was repared. The pet monster he had raised unnerved everypony in the wings. Not a one of them wanted to be anywhere near it. Especially since it seemed friendly, at least, until Sunlit told it to kill…
“I know, Light, I know,” Sergeant Gale moaned. “What do you want me to do about it!? You saw that changeling take it on. Do you have moves like that? I sure as hay don’t. There isn’t shit we can do to stop that thing. We could kill Patches, but that would piss it off...”
Light sighed. “I know… I know… But, y-you’ve seen how Patches has taken over this operation. We need to-”
“We need to just stay alive,” Gale interrupted. “Look, I’ll talk to Blitz when he comes back. Maybe he will let us bail. I know it unnerves him too. I mean, look how he just let him add Storm and Hail to the damn thing when they froze to death…”
Everypony looked down for several long moments. None of them had objected to the mission until now. But all of them were too frightened, or too duty bound to think of leaving without orders. Besides, it didn’t seem to want to kill them. Or even hurt them.
But it could. Easily. Anytime it liked. And then the Necromancer would just add their remains to his new pet.
“But-” Light began.
“Look, there isn’t shit we can do, okay?” Gale hissed. “It seems… Well, it doesn't seem hostile to us, yet. We can make it through this. I’ll talk to Blitz, his word is final on this, okay? Get back to cleaning. None of us want to talk about this!”
“Yeah!” The other pegasi agreed in unison.
Light nodded and turned away from the fire, walking the several meters to her bedroll surrounded by small piles of various equipment set there for her to maintain. Nervously glancing at the monstrous silhouette near the other fire to make sure it was still there, she sighed in relief and began to look for the next object to clean.
Most things were easy enough, pots, pans, cantines, a blanket that had gotten a bit muddy. Those Light decided to leave for last. Whatever would be the most time consuming would come first.
As she searched the pile, a glint of silver caught her eye. Curiously, Light tossed the corner of the muddy blanket back, eyes widening in surprise as Blitz’s document case stared back at her. It had to have accidently slipped into the cleaning pile.
There was no way the Sous-Lieutenant would ever intentionally allow this case containing the official orders, area maps, and other mission-critical documents to leave his person. Light bit her lip nervously, knowing that by returning it she would likely get into trouble. She knew her commanding officer would assume she had stolen it.
“I-I’ll just slip you into his bags later,” Light murmured to herself.
“Open it,” a voice whispered almost silently.
Light jumped up with a yelp, spinning around and aiming her crossbows behind her, eyes feverishly searching for whatever snuck up on her.
“Soldier, do we have contact!?” Gale called urgently.
Light looked around the empty scrubland before her. “N-no Sergeant, I-I guess I jumped at shadows.”
“Right… At ease everypony. Figures the junkie would see something in the nothing,” she muttered, turning back to the fire.
Light sat back down, turning around to toss the blanket back over the case to hide it, stopping as a small slip of parchment now sitting atop the case caught her eye.
Two centimeters square, crisp and clean, with a wax seal set in the middle and two words written below it. ‘Open it’.
Light gulped and squinted at the seal, eyes widening as she made out the seal of the House of Empty Rooms, a simple empty box with the words ‘The wall’s hidden eyes see all’ written around the edges. This was the calling card of the Emperor's personal spy network.
The calling card of a myth.
“O-okay,” Light said nervously, hoping whatever agent had left the note was long gone but still acknowledging their order, just in case.
Light’s hoof shakily pressed the buttons to unclasp the metal case, it clicked open, springs lifting the lid for her slightly. Pulling the case the rest of the way open, Light saw the topmost document. Their mission orders. Folded not to hide the text, but to show a paragraph which had recently been circled win red ink.
Gentle Repose and the unknown changeling have been pardoned by the Knights post-judicial dual. I do not care, nor should you. However, for the sake of maintaining the legality of this operation should the public learn of it, your troops are to be told the two are smuggling a necromantic library out of Prance with the intention to sell the information on the black market and therefore must be assassinated and the library retrieved or destroyed. The real reasons for their deaths are of no concern to you. I doubt I will be able to get the Emperor to sign off on any further operations, he is not easily fooled. Failure is unacceptable, and for this reason, I permit you to break any conventions necessary to bring about their demise.
Light had to read the circled section twice. Disbelief shaking her to the core she unfolded the parchment, refusing to believe it’s authenticity until the saw the red and black bloodstone patterned wax of the Steward’s seal and his signature on the page.
Even then, the Felin spent several long moments staring at the page.
Shaking her head slowly, still reeling from the revelation she had been provided, Light looked around, knowing she wouldn’t spy the agent who brought the true nature of their mission to her attention.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Knowing if she alerted her flightmates the resulting commotion would attract Patches attention, Light considered her options. In the end, there was only one thing she could do. There was no way in Tartarus she was staying here a moment longer.
Taking the page, Light placed it on one of the cleaning piles, took a pencil from a pouch on her bandoleer and scribbled ‘I hereby invoke Imperial Military Legal Codex Article 8a 72 - Light Step’ below the circled text. She doubted it would prevent Blitz or Patches from hunting her down. Not when he had been permitted to break the law and had already violated one conscientious objection law.
There was no guarantee he would abide by this one and allow her to resign her commission.
With her message in place, Light quietly gathered her gear, rolled up her bedroll, strapped her pack to her back and slunk off quietly into the night.
Knowing full well she would be spotted flying away in the clear night air thanks to the full moon’s bright light, Light made her way on hoof. Sticking to cover, the mare headed south. Unsure of where to go.
She knew she couldn’t return to Prance, her unit had committed a war crime by coming here. To go back would mean death. At least, without her officer’s lies to claim they were on a legal mission.
Light stopped walking closing her eyes in deep emotional pain. Assassinating law abiding citizens on the whim of the Steward. The exact opposite of what she had signed up to do. What was happening to her nation? How had it fallen so far?
Somepony cleared their throat. Light’s eyes snapped open. Before she could react a brilliant green aura blazed to life around a unicorn's’ horn, spreading outwards to engulf eight separate cat-o-nine-tail whips, each tipped with a small dagger blade. Each filament on each whip seemed to be alive, twisting like the limbs of an octopus into position as the unicorn readied an attack.
The bright glow of the mage’s world-class telekinesis lit up the night like a streetlamp, giving Light a clear view of the unicorn mare’s scarred face.
“Ello there, mate,” the mare said with a grin.