The ponies scurried outside Zerephonzidas’s study as the sphinx tapped his paws on the surface of his desk. He was staring at Salenorzabul’s eye.
He had thought that it might take more than the sight he currently had to examine the column properly, but not even the eye he had taken from the long dead sphinx could pierce through whatever it was getting in the way.
Well, he thought, it wasn’t as if something was in the way. It was like trying to see something that wasn’t there. Futile.
Outside his office, he saw the Emerald King be carried through the tight corridors. He scowled. Things would be trickier now he had to share the ruins with that big green waste of space. At least Reed had the common decency to stay out of his way.
“Zerephonzidas.”
The sphinx looked up. His face fell.
“Oh, good. It’s you,” he muttered.
Grass tightened his grip on his spear. “I’m here to…”
“What, warn me?” Zerephonzidas put the eye out of Grass’s sight. “Don’t try anything around the King, perhaps?”
Grass frowned.
“If I wanted to act against him, I would have done so long ago,” Zerephonzidas said. “Contrarily to what you seem to think, our goals are aligned.” He smiled. “Have I betrayed you yet?”
“That’s what a traitor would say.”
“Well, you have a point there,” Zerephonzidas said. He gestured towards his door. “Don’t let me keep you busy. I’m sure you have someone else to try to threaten.”
“I’m not threatening…”
“Yes, I know,” Zerephonzidas said. “Go away, little pony. I’m busy.”
“The King wants to see you as soon as he’s settled near the column.”
“And who told you that?”
“Reed.”
“Of course he did,” the sphinx muttered. He imagined the King’s little voice couldn’t even escape the armour.
Grass turned to leave. Zerephonzidas didn’t stop him. He flexed his paws. He picked Salenorzabul’s eye back up, and held it up to his eye. The sight of both his own eye and the dead sphinx’s doubled his ability to see magic. He could see even the little fluctuations in magic, the tiny bits of turbulence that he could never have seen on his own.
He scratched his chin. He smiled.
The Emerald King was sat on the ground, positioned towards the column. Reed stood guard over the King like a sentry. When Zerephonzidas rounded the final corner, Reed’s eyes swung towards him.
“Zerephonzidas,” Reed said. “You’ve arrived.”
The sphinx rolled his neck. “Yes, I’ve come to see his highness,” he said. He stared at Reed. “At your request, of course.”
Reed narrowed his eyes. “Yed, good,” he said. “I wanted to discuss our schedule…”
Zerephonzidas pulled Salenorzabul’s eye out of the feathers of his wings. He lifted it up to his eye, and stared through it at Reed.
“What are you doing?”
“You know about sphinx sight, yes?”
“Yes, of course I do. It’s well documented.”
“Did you know that some sphinxes could take other sphinx’s eyes to improve their own sight?” Zerephonzidas asked. “Looking at you like this, it’s like watching every ripple in a whole ocean. It’s impressive, really. I should have tried this millennia ago.”
“Are you playing?”
Zerephonzidas smiled, and turned his gaze towards the King. “Just checking something.”
Reed’s brow furrowed, and he took two steps towards Zerephonzidas. “What are you…”
As Zerephonzidas suspected, the armour the King wore was no simple lump of gaudy green rock. No… upon closer, more detailed inspection, he could see the flow of life itself within the metal cage. The King was a weak specimen, for sure… but perhaps that was through no fault of his own. Zerephonzidas could see his life energy trickle, piece by piece, down the sides of the armour. Drop by drop, it flowed down into the ground, leaving the pony inside so helpless and weak he couldn’t even talk.
Zerephonzidas’s smile turned into a grin. “Ah, fascinating. It really is quite a subtle enchantment, isn’t it?”
Reed’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s just that the King so rarely issues orders himself. It’s always been you… or another magician.” He put Salenorzabul’s eye down. “You can stop pretending.”
Reed grit his teeth. “It was to stop the draught.”
Zerephonzidas raised his eyebrow. “Oh, is that a justification? Don’t misunderstand, I’m merely fascinated.” He stepped towards the Emerald King and tapped the armour twice with his claw. “It’s a very delicate enchantment. Tell me, how does it work?”
Reed turned to the nearby guards. “Leave, now.”
The guards looked at each other, then backed away. Reed sighed.
“You realise they’ll have to be put to death now?”
“Tell me about the enchantment. I only care about magic.”
Reed sighed. “It takes his life energy. To keep the land healthy.”
“Ah, so the oasis under the temple… That’s not natural, is it?”
“It once was, but the water dried up.”
“Fascinating,” Zerephonzidas muttered. “So those legends about grass sprouting up where he walks… it’s not a lie after all.” He leaned in towards the Emerald King. “So, the pony inside is the battery, and the armour takes it and makes the sands green and liveable.”
“Yes.”
“Why pretend he’s the one really in charge?”
“Because we were cornered,” Reed said. “The previous king pretended to be some kind of god. Without a king, we wouldn’t have been able to survive. So now, we rule in his stead.”
“How long has the pony been in that armour?”
“Since he was three.”
“Ooh, how cold of you. No sympathy for the young?” Zerephonzidas looked up towards Reed. “And the queen?”
“She knows nothing.”
“Goodness, so he really doesn’t take the armour off when he goes to bed.”
“You didn’t check?”
“No, although I confess I probably should have, in hindsight.”
Reed stepped towards the sphinx. “You will not reveal this to anypony.”
“Why bring him here?”
Reed bit his lip. Zerephonzidas smiled.
“Ah, another secret for me today?”
“We are interested in securing our nation’s power. The ‘King’ grows weak,” Reed said. “Now leave.”
“I don’t think you can afford to order me around like that any more.”
“You might die if you prove yourself a problem.”
“And if you try, I might, well, ‘prove myself a problem’.” Zerephonzidas looked up at the column. “I can guess, though. You want to make sure that your battery doesn’t run out, yes?” Zerephonzidas chuckled. “Goodness me, and some of my kind thought living out millions of years in the vast wondrous land we have was boring. Imagine millions of years, trapped inside armour, forced to feed a dying desert forever and ever. By comparison, our lives truly are full of wonder. Or perhaps that measly excuse for an ‘existence’ is simply hell.”
“Are you trying to make me feel guilty?”
“No. I’m just impressed at how far ponies have come,” Zerephonzidas said. “It’s always good to be reminded that although I am the one with the most experience, you new species can be devious indeed.”
Zerephonzidas turned to face the King, and peered through the slots in the helmet. For the first time, he saw the King’s eyes. They were wide and fearful. Zerephonzidas chuckled.
“Are you even aware? Or was your mind sucked dry long ago?” he asked. He held up Salenorzabul’s eye. “Let’s have a look, shall we?”
The magic across Zerephonzidas’s eyes crackled, and the sphinx took a step back. He grunted, shaking his head.
“What?” Reed asked.
“Just taken aback,” Zerephonzidas muttered. He looked over at Reed. “Impressed though I am… well, at least Salenorzabul eventually killed his toys,” he said, and turned to leave. “I’ll be seeing you soon. Have fun trying to make your ‘Immortal King’.”
“It isn’t about fun, Zerephonzidas. It’s about saving our land.”
“You could always move North.”
“No.”
“Then you’ll have to make do tormenting this empty shell some more, then, won’t you?”
Zerephonzidas tapped his claw against the wall of the corridor some more. Truly, ponies could be surprising creatures.
So long as they keeped surprising, then he wouldn’t have a problem with them. Oh, the things he would give up to keep on tasting the sweet nectar of surprise. Anything short of his life, perhaps. Without discovery, what was the point of living for thousands of years.
He heard noises nearby. He raised his eyebrows.
“I suspected this would happen,” he muttered. “How many have you brought?”
Reed’s horn flickered to life. “Enough for one lone sphinx,” he said. “I wouldn’t be taking this so seriously if you didn’t have the potential to ruin everything for us.”
“I guessed,” Zerephonzidas said, and turned to face the dozen unicorn guards. “That certainly is a lot.”
“I did say…”
“How many have survival instincts, though?” Zerephonzidas asked. “It’s perhaps the biggest weakness I’ve seen in ponies. It paralyses and traps. A pony with no sense of self-preservation, now, that I find dangerous. These magicians of yours? I suspect they have far too much to live for.”
Reed swallowed. “We’re all prepared to die for our country,” he said.
“Sure you are. It’s a nice last thought to have, after all.” Zerephonzidas flexed his claws. “But you can’t help but flinch.”