//------------------------------// // An Unusual Request // Story: Freeport Venture: Blood and Iron // by Chengar Qordath //------------------------------// I should have known something big was coming. It had been a month since anything had tried to kill me. Well, seriously tried. The sludge monster I’d gone up against in the sewers didn’t count. All it managed to do before I banished it was ruin a good set of robes beyond saving and leave me in dire need of a shower. Thankfully, I had plenty of side projects to occupy my time. All the money I was making as a magus-for-hire wound up going straight back into research projects, and I’d decided to follow in Celestia’s hoofsteps by taking on a faithful student of my own. “Alright, Kukri, let's see how your telekinesis is coming along.” My little changeling apprentice nodded dutifully. “Got it!” Her horn lit up with the same green glow all changelings seemed to share, and after several seconds a glass of water very shakily rose from the nearby table and wobbled through the air, heading roughly in my direction without spilling too much. “That’s a good start.” I kept my tone gentle and even, trying to match the way Celestia always talked when she taught me. Yeah, she might not have been a perfect teacher, but she still made a pretty good point of reference. As long as I didn’t decide to replace Kukri with some random nobody with no warning or explanation and then promote that random nobody over the student who’d loyally served me for years, her techniques should work out alright. A second later I spotted the first of many things I would need to correct. “Kukri, don’t close your eyes or stick your tongue out while you’re casting.” “This one find it easier to concentrate on its spell with its eyes closed,” Kukri murmured in her own defense. “Yeah, but you need to be able to actually see what you’re doing,” I pointed out. “You need to learn how to cast the spells the right way from the start, or else you can pick up bad habits that’ll take a long time to break.” “Oh.” She frowned thoughtfully, then cocked her head to the side. “This one must ask, how does sticking its tongue out impede its ability to cast spells?” “It looks silly,” I explained. “Unicorns cast spells with dignity and grace. We don’t pull funny faces or make a bunch of silly gestures.” “This one’s uncle Glaive says that it doesn’t matter if something looks silly as long as it works,” Kukri shot back stubbornly. “And I’m sure a pegasus knows all about the ins and outs of unicorn magic.” I sighed and shook my head. “Look, being a proper magus is as much about image as anything else. We aren’t just amateur spellslingers, we’re masters of magic. That means you need to look the part—if you go around with your eyes closed and a goofy look on your face, nobody’s going to take you seriously. I won’t have anyone laughing at my apprentice.” Kukri sighed and nodded. “Yes, Shimmer-mare.” She took a deep breath and tried it again, this time managing to keep her eyes open and her tongue in her mouth. Unfortunately, more than half the water had spilled out of it by the time she’d carried the glass all the way over to herself. Probably because she was worrying too much about her eyes and tongue and not enough about the spell. Teaching was a lot harder than it had looked when I’d been the student. “Keep focused on the spell. You can’t afford to spend so much of your concentration on other things.” “Then it doesn’t matter if this one sticks its tongue out?” Kukri asked. “No, you just need to get in the habit of doing it without thinking.” I chuckled softly and ruffled her head crest. “Remember: dignity and grace.” “Of course, Shimmer-mare.” She took the half-empty glass of water and rather noisily slurped up the contents. After a valiant internal struggle I repressed the urge to groan and facehoof. I should’ve known that a kid who spent a year working on a sailing ship would be a bit behind the curve when it came to high society manners. For that matter, Freeport itself wasn’t exactly the politest place in the world. Once Kukri finished noisily slurping down her water, she turned to me with an eager grin. “What next, Shimmer-mare? Will you teach this one how to make fire? Or ice? Or even how to use both at once the way you do?” “Not today.” Pyromancy was one of the those subjects that wasn’t a lot of fun for beginners. If I ever got around to teaching it to Kukri, we’d probably have to head to an outlying island to hammer down the basics. Shockingly, amateur pyromancers can sometimes accidently set things on fire. While I could probably contain and extinguish any accidents before they caused too much damage, I wasn’t exactly eager to take a chance when we were practicing in my tower, which happened to be in the middle of a city. “What about teleportation?” she asked eagerly. Before I could even explain that the spell I used was one of Celestia’s personal inventions that was both fiendishly complicated and probably something she wouldn’t want me spreading around, Kukri eagerly continued onward. “Or enchanting? Or invisibility, or potions, or runes, or— Past experience told me that Kukri could go on for hours when she got worked up enough. Fortunately, someone started knocking on the front door to my tower, providing a perfect excuse to cut her off before she built up too much momentum. “Lemme show you one of my newest spells. It involves sending my apprentice to go answer the door so I don’t have to.” “That doesn’t sound like a real spell,” Kukri answered skeptically. “Door,” I prompted her, pointing towards it. “Answer. Now.” Kukri grinned teasingly at me. “This one thought the Shimmer-mare said that proper spellwork does not involve gestures or incantations.” A part of me was amused by the sass, but that didn’t mean I was going to let her off easy. “Watch out, or I’ll show my spell for cleaning the entire tower with a toothbrush.” “This one does not believe it needs to learn that spell,” Kukri replied meekly. I headed to my office, while she trotted over to the door, then took a moment to straighten her shoulders, puff out her chest, and line up her hooves so that she looked like a proper little lady. Or rather, an eleven-year-old’s idea of what a proper lady ought to look like—I’m no fashion critic, but she was trying way too hard. Much like her bad spellcasting habits, she would just have to work on improving herself until it became second nature. I know it had taken a while for me to learn it all. Once she was done composing herself,, Kukri opened the door, revealing a rather dirty brown hippogryph—zyphon, rather, given the stripes—wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat. The zyphon doffed his hat and cleared his throat. “Er ... this is the tower of Magus Shimmer, aye?” Kukri nodded dutifully. “It is. This one is her apprentice, Kukri Doo. Can it help you?” The zyphon’s shoulders slumped in relief. “Finally found the right place.” Before I could cut in and ask how there could be any confusion when I was the only one in Freeport with a huge obsidian tower, he continued on. “Beggin’ the magus's pardon for intrudin’, but I came to ask her for some help.” Kukri’s eyes lit up, and she strained to be even more polite than she was already. “You are a client? Come in then, sir.” She glanced toward my office, where I’d been observing while pretending to be going over some paperwork. “Shimmer-mare! You have a client. A ... um...” She glanced back to the zyphon. He seemed to know what she wanted. “Name of Equal Share, little miss.” “Equal Share for you.” Kukri paused, frowning to herself. “That is to say a zyphon named Equal Share, not an actual ... um, come on in.” Kukri lead the zyphon to my office, trying to imitate a fancy ladylike prance and failing miserably. If not for a quick little spell from me, she might’ve wound up planting her face on the floor. Thankfully she didn’t have any other mishaps while escorting Equal Share the twenty feet separating the foyer from my office. The zyphon seemed suitably impressed by the massive collection of books and scrolls decorating the room, as well as a few photos of myself with various Freeport notables and, of course, Celestia herself. Even if we hadn’t parted on the best of terms, it never hurt to remind the world just who I’d learned magic from. Judging by the way Equal Share was staring around the room like a freshly landed fish, I’d gotten his attention. I smiled invitingly and set aside the massive tome I kept on my desk just so I could pretend to read it whenever a client was about to come in. “Hello. What can I do for you today?” Equal settled into one of the seats across from my desk, leaving behind a generous helping of sweat and dirt. “Beggin’ the Magus's pardon, but I'm in charge of a small farming commune on one of the out-islands. We've been having some trouble with er...” He ran a talon across the back of his head. “Well, one of our new members says they's undead. But she also said all the metal bits on them and the green fire were like nothin’ she’d ever seen before. She’s the only one in the commune who really knows much about magic—all I can really say is that some of them are skeletons, and others still have skin and flesh.” I searched my memory, but nothing about undead with green fire and metal sounded familiar. “I don’t suppose anyone had a camera?” Pictures would make identifying the creatures a lot easier than going off a farmer’s description. “No ma’am,” the farmer admitted. Right, time to play twenty questions then. “You said some were skeletons while others still had their flesh?” “Yes ma’am.” “Okay, were the fleshy ones wet or slimy?” “No ma’am.” Not draug, then. They were the most common sort of wild undead, considering we were in the middle of a huge archipelago where thousands of ships had sunk due to weather, piracy, or war. If it wasn’t draug, that made it more likely we were dealing with a necromancer. “Were they just wandering around randomly, or did they seem to have some sort of goal in mind?” “Seemed like they mighta been lookin’ for somethin’,” Equal answered with a shrug. “And they left pretty quick after a couple of our members attacked one of ‘em.” Huh. Definitely sounded like these weren’t wild ones, then. “Did the fleshy ones seem to be controlling the skeletons? Or vice versa?” “No ma’am.” “And I’m going to assume you didn’t spot a living necromancer?” “Nobody like that, ma’am.” Well, that was a bother. The green fire and metal bits definitely fit an independent necromancer. Most of the common rules for identifying undead broke down a bit when you were dealing with an independent necromancer. After all, there’s no telling what a crazy genius warlock might come up with when he starts experimenting. Sticking a few metal bits onto a skeleton or zombie wasn’t all that hard when you were the one making them. “So can you help us?” Equal asked plaintively, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “We ain’t got much in the way of money, but come harvest time we could pay you in trade.” Oh. No money. Well that was a bit of a problem. After all, I was a magus-for-hire. When it came to getting paid, I much preferred ducats to baskets full of breadfruit and sugarcane. Unfortunately, as Puzzle had pointed out once or twice in the past, I was a bit too nice to be purely mercenary. Turning this guy away just because his community was too poor didn’t sit right with me. If the undead came back and killed them all because I was picky about whether or not I was getting paid enough ... yeah, that wouldn’t sit right with me at all. I decided on a compromise. “I don't charge much just to go out and look. I can have a look at these undead for myself, and see what you guys are dealing with and if you need any help.” I couldn’t help but notice Kukri looking at me as with an admiring smile as I continued. “If things get bad and you need more than just a consultation, we'll work something out.” “Thank you kindly, miss.” Equal smiled gratefully, extending a talon to shake my hoof. “Glad to see Starlight was wrong about you.” I blinked in shock, not even taking the proffered talon. “What? Starlight? You mean Starlight Glimmer?” “Yes ma’am,” Share confirmed. “She joined our commune about three months back, on account of runnin’ into some trouble with the powers-that-be in the city. Ain’t like she’s the first one we’ve had who was lookin’ to start over. She said we shouldn't hire you.” “Oh.” Well, that certainly complicated things. The last time I had a run-in with Starlight, she’d robbed a bank that catered to Freeport’s elite, then tossed a lot of the money into the poorest slum in Freeport. Her ‘rob from the rich and give to the poor’ act probably would’ve been a bit more convincing if she hadn’t kept so much of the money for herself. Or if she hadn’t allowed her wealthy father to get her out of any serious punishment. Usually the punishment for bank robbery was a lot harsher than getting sent to a small farming commune. It sounded like she was still holding a bit of a grudge against me. Not exactly a surprise, when I was the one who caught and arrested her. Not to mention damaging her horn badly enough that she couldn’t use magic for a month. Though considering she was trying to kill me at the time, I thought that was an incredibly merciful punishment. Starlight being involved in this definitely changed a few things. She wasn’t as skilled with magic as I was, but she had enough raw power to give me a reasonably challenging fight. I was already planning to do a bit more digging before I took the job, but now I was going to look twice as hard. “So if Starlight didn’t want you to hire me, why did you come anyway?” Equal shrugged. “We got zombies and skeletons runnin’ through our village. Ain't like we can afford to be picky.” “I assume you tried asking the Council for aid?” “We did.” The zyphon grimaced and shook his head. “But we’re a small community in the out-islands. I ain’t exactly hopeful they’ll do much for us.” He was probably right about that. The out-islands were all far away from any major trade routes, and generally lacking in any valuable resources that made them worth developing. The Council wouldn’t be in a rush to send forces to a worthless hunk of rock populated by a small number of subsistence farmers—even if they weren’t heartless jerks only concerned with maximizing Freeport’s profits, protecting a tiny village far away from civilization wasn’t as important as larger communities on the main islands. Of course, part of my job description was to take care of things the Council couldn’t or wouldn’t. “I’ll need to do a little research to see what I’m dealing with. Once that’s settled, I’ll send Kukri to ... where are you staying at?” Equal shrugged. “I’ve been sleeping on our boat.” He couldn’t even afford a room at a dockside tavern? This was not gonna be one of my more profitable jobs. “Alright, Kukri will find you at the docks, then. Is there anything else I should know about this job?” “No ma’am.” He got up from his seat. “Thank you kindly for whatever help you can give us.” He put his hat back on, and Kukri showed him out. Once she was back I sighed and shook my head, leaning back in my chair. “So, Starlight’s back and there’s undead around. That’s a nice pair of surprises.” Kukri shrugged. “She was bound to pop up again at some point. The Shimmer-mare defeated her once, and will do so again if she tries anything. This one is more worried about the things she seems to have brought with her.” “Yeah, the necromancy is what has me worried too.” I frowned thoughtfully, tapping my chin. “I don’t recall her using any dark magic last time. Everything she used was pretty basic, so I don’t think she has a very broad spellbook. Plus terrorizing a small farming village doesn’t fit with how obsession with fairness and equality. Though I suppose she might've just gone nuts.” She certainly hadn’t been a picture of mental stability last time. “It could also just be a coincidence,” Kukri suggested. I shook my head. “I suppose that’s possible, but you remember what Puzzle always says about that: coincidences do happen, but you shouldn't trust them when they crop up.” I got up from my chair and stretched out. “And speaking of bug boy, I want his take on this before I accept the job and go running off into the wilderness.” Kukri nodded along. “It's odd he didn't contact you about the Glimmer-mare's return. This one doubts he's in cahoots with her, but if he didn't tell you, that probably means he didn't know. Which probably means she's gone out of her way to hide herself. Same with the zombies, although those might just be too new to have hit his web yet.” All things considered, I rather doubted Puzzle was plotting against me. And if he was, he’d be plotting with someone a bit better than Starlight Glimmer. “The out-islands aren't exactly the sort of place where he'd have a bunch of agents running around. Usually nothing worth spying on.” Kukri grinned at me. “So in other words, you know something he doesn’t. A rare situation indeed. How much do you think he'd pay for this little nugget?” I chuckled and gave her a pat on the back. “I guess we'll find out, won't we?” Her eyes lit up. “Race you!” She dropped into a running stance, but before she could start galloping she froze and grumbled several words she’d almost certainly picked up from sailors. “Of course, this means lessons have to wait now.” She hissed a couple more colorful words her mother wouldn’t have approved of. I tsked disapprovingly. “Language, Kukri.” Her ears dropped. “Sorry, Shimmer-mare.” Her mood bounced back an instant later. “Maybe we should add a silence spell to the syllabus?” “I’ll make a note.” At this rate the syllabus was going to take at least a decade to get through. I suspect Kukri’s enthusiasm might outstrip her actual abilities. I know I wanted to learn all the cool spells when I was her age, before I realized that nopony could actually master every single spell in existence. For now, I decided to focus her ambitions in more achievable directions. “Check my gear while I go visit Puzzle.” “Got it!” she chirped out enthusiastically. From the outside, Puzzle’s business doesn’t look like it’s the headquarters of one of the most powerful and influential beings in Freeport, with connections ranging from the criminal underworld to the Council itself. It looked perfectly respectable, but someone who didn’t know about Puzzle would assume that Puzzle Piece’s Problem Solvers was just another fairly ordinary import/export business office—the sort of place you could find just about anywhere in the nicer districts of Freeport. Knowing Puzzle, he’d probably set it up to look that way on purpose. I walked through the front door into a nice little waiting area with a single severe earth pony mare sitting behind a desk. She greeted my arrival with something almost resembling politeness, which was progress considering she didn’t like me very much. It took me a while to figure out that she was one of those types who guarded her minimal authority zealously, and not even Celestia could bypass her without dirty looks and passive-aggression. So I decided to go with the path of least resistance. “Merry Penny, I need to see Puzzle. It’s important.” I was rather surprised when she actually smiled at me. Looks like trying to be diplomatic and respect her authority was the right move after all. “He's downstairs.” She rose from her desk. “I’ll escort you, Magus.” I nodded and followed behind her, letting her enjoy playing the role of leader. It was a small sacrifice to avoid all the messy complications that came from running roughshod over her. She led me into Puzzle’s office, then through a cunningly concealed door in the back wall that opened up into a staircase. While Puzzle’s secret basement hadn’t been a secret from me, he’d never let me down here before. Merry walked up to the door at the bottom of the staircase, then slipped inside to let her boss know I was here. About a minute later she came out and nodded to me. “He's right inside, and ready for you.” I stepped inside just in time to see Puzzle rolling up a map. The rest of his secret room was not as interesting as you’d expect for highly connected fixer. Yeah, there were all sorts of interesting little things—charms, potions, documents, a wall safe, the hidden wall safe, and most likely an even more hidden one I hadn’t found yet. Just nothing that immediately amazed me, but I suppose anything like that wouldn’t be out in plain sight anyway. Puzzle looked up at my entrance, smiling politely. “Hello, Shimmer-mare. Always a pleasure.” He opened up the obvious safe, then slipped the documents inside and locked it. I shot a quick look at the safe. “Gotta hide your secrets from me?” He smirked and nodded. “Only some of them.” “Hopefully not any bad ones.” While I was undeniably curious, I resisted the urge to try and figure out what Puzzle was up to. Especially since, given the fact that he knew I was about to come in, he could easily have asked me to wait another minute until he finished putting everything up. So he was probably playing some game where he wanted me to know he was still keeping secrets from me. If that was how it was, I certainly wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of playing along. Instead, I got straight to business. “I got a new job offer, and I want your take on it.” Puzzle settled down in a very large chair that wasn’t quite as formal and impressive as the one in his office, but looked far more comfortable. “What's the job?” I took the other available chair. “An out-island farming commune is having some trouble with undead and they want my help. So far I’m just down for a consultation, but it’s reasonably likely to turn into a fight.” I frowned and delivered the unexpected complication. “It's the village Starlight got exiled to.” “Ah,” Puzzle steepled his hooves in front of his face. “This one remembers that one all too well. If the village needs your help, then the Glimmer-mare herself wasn't able to deal with this reported undead incursion?” I shrugged. “Apparently she’s been handling them so far, but the village wants a proper magus to come out and have a look at it.” “Understandable.” Puzzle tapped his chin thoughtfully. “However, this one finds it rather surprising that they immediately chose to hire one of Starlight’s enemies.” “It’s not like I have much competition in the magus-for-hire business,” I countered. “Yes and no,” Puzzle countered. “True, you are the only mercenary in Freeport who can claim the title of Equestrian Magus. However, you are far from the only magically knowledgeable and skilled individual in the city. There are shamans, runecasters, and a few blood mages available, not to mention a few unicorns who lack your skills but whose aid comes cheaper. Yet of all the available magical professionals, this village chooses you? No, this is more of a coincidence than this one likes.” Puzzle grimaced and shook his head. “It might be best if you avoided this job. It has too much potential for complications.” “Yeah, I get what you’re saying.” I sighed and ran a hoof through my mane. “But the village is being attacked by zombies and skeletons. That’s not something I can ignore.” “Which might well be what they intended when setting this trap,” Puzzle pointed out. “A village in peril, waiting desperately for the hero to come galloping to the rescue. Precisely the sort of scenario that would draw out a young mercenary magus whose heart sometimes does more thinking than her head. Need this one remind you of the time you were asked to come to Sweetash Isle with little concrete information given before hoof?” “I haven't forgotten,” I growled. The hospital stay had made sure of that. If I ever ran into Chrysalis again... “Why do you think I'm here? I know something’s not right about this job, but I don’t want to leave the farmers defenseless.” “This one could point out once more that there are several others the village could turn to for aid.” The changeling was silent for a long moment, then sighed and shook his head. “But likely none as good as you, especially since this one imagines the Shimmer-mare did not attempt to make them pay beyond their means. Others would use their desperate situation to take them for everything they have.” Puzzle shot me a long, unreadable look before continuing. “Since it seems we must save these poor unfortunates, this one should state that it does have an informant in Starlight's little commune.” “Why am I not surprised?” “The out-islands are a known haven for all sorts who want to keep their business secret.” Puzzle’s eyes flicked towards a rather large filing cabinet. “Pirates, slavers, smugglers, warlocks, and of course small communes that wish to live in relative isolation.” “Slavers?” I frowned and shook my head. “I thought the Council hated slavers.” “They do,” Puzzle confirmed. “If the commune wanted the Council’s help, they should have claimed they were being attacked by slavers, not undead. In truth, that focus on slavers is part of why such threats are not acted upon as quickly. The Council can only devote so many resources to such marginal territory, and slavers have always been their primary focus. Not to mention that after the incident with the Old Mind, they have been searching to ensure there are no hidden changeling hives.” “Right, right...” I grimaced and ran a hoof through my mane. “So where does this village fit into all this? Are they up to anything shady?” “Not as such.” Puzzle got up and pulled a couple files out of his cabinet. “From what this one can tell, it seems to be a community with beliefs somewhat similar to those espoused by Starlight when we last met her, though a bit more ... seasoned. There is no formal hierarchy, and resources are shared equally among all members of the community. Likely her father sent her there in hopes of tempering her beliefs.” “Or just sticking her somewhere out of sight, but nice enough that she wouldn’t mind being locked up.” A gilded cage is still a cage, even if Starlight’s idea of gilding was a small communal village in the middle of nowhere. I conjured up a quick ice mirror to read a bit of the report over Puzzle’s shoulder. “So you had a spy on Starlight?” “It seemed prudent.” Puzzle glanced up at the mirror, then sighed and directed a rather pointed look my way until I dismissed it. “She strikes this one as the sort who might bear a grudge against those who foiled her schemes. Those sorts always bear watching. This one will remind you that the Glimmer-mare is inclined to think in straight lines. She might be thinking she's being clever by having one of her minions ask you to come to her island.” I couldn’t exactly refute that point. “What does your source say about undead showing up?” “Nothing, but this one has not heard from its source for a week, and does not expect to do so for another week yet. Normally the commune only sends a ship to Freeport twice a month to trade for whatever they can’t produce themselves. Which might mean this one will receive a message regarding the undead shortly, though there is no guarantee of that. The trip to beg for aid was not part of the regular schedule, so this one’s source might not have been able to send a message. Even this one’s network has its limits.” “Right.” Which meant I would probably have to make a decision blind. Super. “In that case, I definitely want some backup for this job.” “This one would not suggest acting alone, no.” He put up the files and pulled out a large, heavy tome. “Did the villager you spoke with say what type of undead were attacking?” “The description didn’t match anything I’d expect to see running wild in Freeport. He also mentioned green fire and metal bits in the skeletons and zombies.” I shrugged. “Nothing I’ve ever heard of before, so my best guess is that there’s a necromancer doing some experimenting, and either his projects got loose or he decided to test them on the nearest easy target.” One of Puzzle’s eyebrows quirked up. “That's new for this one, too.” He flipped through his book for a bit, then shook his head. “As this one thought, no known undead variant. As the Shimmer-mare said, most like the result of a warlock experimenting. The out-islands have several of those.” “The out-islands do sound like the exactly the sort of place a warlock would set up shop,” I agreed. “As for the undead, I’ll probably be able to figure something out once I actually get a look at them. Hard to get any concrete answers when all I have is a vague description from a farmer who can’t tell a draug from a revenant.” Puzzle frowned and closed his book. “Quite so. Well then, who else is going to be coming along on this expedition?” “Kukri wants to come, but that’s obviously not happening.” She was a good kid, but still just a kid. No way I could justify dragging her into what would almost certainly be a dangerous combat situation. “So ... I guess we could ask Strumming, then hire some mercs?” “That would seem wise.” Puzzle shot me a flat look. “This one can't help but note that according to its agent this commune isn't exactly going to have much money to pay us. Mercenaries cost money. Supplies cost money. And our time is valuable as well. What opportunities will we miss because we are off gallivanting about in the out-islands?” I grimaced, because much as I didn’t want to admit it, he was right. “What else can I do? Leave them on their own?” Puzzle sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Shimmer-mare, mercenaries need to make a profit in order to continue being mercenaries. Your standard of living will decline considerably if you make a habit of taking jobs for clients who cannot pay you. Consider that very carefully before deciding you want to play hero.” My eyes narrowed and I clenched my teeth. “Are you suggesting I just leave them all to die?” “This one is merely pointing out that excessive altruism is a good way to get yourself killed.” Puzzle shook his head. “This one cannot reccomend that you undertake a job which will likely end up costing you an order of magnitude more than you will earn from it.” “I’m sure you’ve done jobs where you didn’t make more bits than you spent,” I countered. “That is true,” Puzzle conceded. “However, in such cases this one still derived something of value for its time and resources: the favor of the Council, eliminating or weakening a rival, gaining a powerful new ally. This one can count its profits in more than bits. The Shimmer-mare has no such concerns—this one suspects you simply wish to play the hero.” “Think of it as a public relations exercise,” I shot back with a smirk. “Everyone loves a hero. Not to mention that if there is some crazy necromancer attacking people with his creations, he’s probably not going to stop after wiping a single small farming commune. Like I said, he might be testing them out on the villagers—which would indicate that he plans on doing something a lot bigger at some point in the future. And on top of that, our necromancer probably has a lair, presumably full of valuable magical equipment.” “This one suspects that the Shimmer-mare would object to selling much of what we could loot from a necromancer’s hideout.” Puzzle frowned. “For that matter, there would likely be some things that even this one would not want put on the open market. However, the Shimmer-mare’s point is not wholly lacking in merit—one’s reputation is a valuable resource indeed. And in any case, it is clear the Shimmer-mare intends to do as she will regardless of this one’s advice. Did you think this one would let you go into danger without it?” I grinned and nudged him. “I was hoping you’d be there to watch my back.” “But of course.” Puzzle grinned disarmingly. “This one likes you too much to let anything happen to you. Not to mention the Heartstrings-mare would be upset.” I smirked and hoofed him in the shoulder. “Feeling's mutual, bug boy. So does that mean Strumming’s getting involved too?” Puzzle nodded. “The Heartstrings-mare became a bit upset the last time this one went on a job with you, only for you to return home injured. This one believes that it's probably best if she comes along so that she can't get quite as cranky with this one.” “And we can’t have your girlfriend getting cranky with you,” I poked him in the side. “Imagine if you get exiled to the couch.” “A fate this one would much rather avoid,” Puzzle deadpanned. “And the Equestrians will likely be glad to contribute some resources to a necromancer-hunt, given their policy of regarding warlocks as hostis equinus generis. Along with her, we should get some mercs to back us up. Reliable ones that can deal with the undead and any magic users. From there, we hire a ship to go to the Glimmer-mare's island, where this one will stealthily contact its agent to get a first hoof account of what's going on. From that point we'll figure out the best course of action.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “This one will also have Merry check its records to see if there are any warlocks operating on nearby out-islands. Having a few obvious suspects would certainly help our investigation. It does vaguely recall hearing of a bokor operating on a small island somewhere near the commune.” “Bokor ... that’s like the zebra shaman version of a warlock, right?” I was still filling out my knowledge of non-unicorn magical traditions “Essentially,” Puzzle agreed. “The term carries a number of different connotations, but bokors are known to practice what most Equestrians would consider black magic—including the creation of zombies.” “Sounds like someone worth checking out, then,” I concluded. “If he’s our bad guy, problem solved. If he isn’t, then he’s still a necromancer who needs to be taken out. So, unless there’s anything else, I think we're good.” Puzzle nodded. “Then let us get to work.”