//------------------------------// // The Brave and the Bold, part 2 [20] // Story: Stories in Stone, Capricorn's Curse // by TDR //------------------------------// Stories in Stone Capricorns Curse by TDR The Brave and the Bold [part 2] [ Exert from a journal found by a unicorn musician, argued about and translated by a still over eager librarian, and the excitable Princess of Books, over seen by a very weary Queen of Changelings. Translated from ancient Equestrian, ancient Donkey, Neo Modern Donkey, and Neo modern Equestrian, with snippets of Griffonease, Sea Pony, and Draconic mixed in. Relevant texts were all that was translated as much of the book and the three earlier volumes spoke of nothing but growing up as a prince with everything you would ever need and one entire book in the series was noting but a documentation and crude drawings of a variety of females asses and anatomy.] ============================================= [ Relevant entry one.] It's good to be king. No no,I take that back, it's good to be PRINCE, it sucks to be king. Of course after my fathers untimely, accidental, beheading,...of sorts, I got to find out first hoof how much being a king really sucks. You can't just do what ever the buck you want simply because you want to do it. There's politics and paper work to do. I actually have to work for a living now. I can't simply go off wenching any more. Of course now I can order the wenches to me, but I’ve been too tired for any of the 'ole in and out' lately. That's mostly because the damn island is bucking sinking. Granted this isn't new, the island has been going down like a ship with a hole in it for a while now, my father just hid it well. The old fart probably figured no one would notice until after he retired then it would be some one elses problem....like mine. Thanks a lot dad.....jackass.... if you weren’t already dead I’d kill you. Still it's my job now to figure out what's going on with this frakking fish and why the guardians have been dormant for generations now. I was never the scholarly sort unless what I was studying interested me. History has always been boring as buck. Still I often find that writing things down helps me focus, as does making a list of what I have at my disposal. One, a slowly sinking fish island that has been swimming slightly to the left for ten decades now. Two, a bunch of immobile guardians who won't listen to any one and only occasionally go out and do repairs on the older structures of the kingdom, some times destroying the newer buildings to do so. Three, a massive library full of books. Four, full access to the tomb of the Corpse Princess and her entourage. Here's a hint: there ain't shit there, and those five just sit on the stone thrones and stare at you with empty sockets or dead eyes. Places is creepy as fuck. And finally five, my rugged good looks and charm. Which also mean nothing right now. This whole place is fraked. All hail King Bray, sinker of the kingdom of Tamberlane....... Great epitaph there, I should write that down... oh wait, I did! =========================================== [ Journal entry’s that follow involve the quest to play 'hide the sausage' with a attractive maid and nothing else of note] ============================================ Relevant Journal entry 2 So I finally found what I needed to do and I can’t bucking do it! The island is controlled by the descendants of Tamberlane, evidently the old bird cast the spell after he became an island. The problem is, that no matter how much you fuck a corpse it's not going to produce a kid....... don't ask how I know that. The Corpse Princess and Prince Cadaver or what ever the buck their names were were long dead before Tamberlane killed King Gold, and despite what he thought they stayed that way during his two hundred year rule. Great story for the history books there, the first king built this place then was killed by a half dead old bird who thought the corpses he was walking around with were still his living friends. Despite his madness Tamberlane was probably one of the best rulers this place had, the bucker even sacrificed himself to save the island from being destroyed. Of course after a few years as a fish his mind went and hes no better than a brain dead husk at the moment slowly sinking into the water and taking the island he saved with him. Alright calm down... lets look at this objectively. His daughter couldn't have been of his blood as she was a Mer. So likely she was adopted. The spell was supposedly set to her bloodline, which would have been impossible as the damn griffon couldn't have known her bloodline, plus she was a corpse at the time so the magic would have gone after intent rather than fact.. Necromancy isn't one of my fields of expertise, not like that matters as this island is one of the only places in the world where a Necromancer can practice in retaliative peace. Granted if they cause too much issue the undead protectors of the island rise and rip them apart. It's happened twice in my life time. Some how the rules usually work well here. With the war between the ponies starting and the numerous Zebra's trying to flee their homeland for some reason, immigrants to the island are common. If you die here you body becomes property of the Kingdom and we often sell it to the visiting Necromancers or just let it rise to be wrapped up and become anew guardian. No one forgot that damn tradition. Of course that makes graveyards moot and it means we have to keep expanding the catacombs below the city. We've burrowed into the fish by now, only the stone work keeps the flesh from closing back up. There was mention of a Gray Grimiore in some of the tomes that gave many of the spells to Tamberlane, but that book was no where to be found, after six hundred years that's not much a surprise. I need to find a necromancer to consult on this, one that won't be missed when I have to kill them. I can't let the knowledge that I have no control of the island get out. ======================================================= Several entries after this are filled with useless bitching and attempts to find a necromancer that can be questioned. =================================================== Relevant entry 3 Well that was very informative as well as very beneficial to me. Finding a necromancer was easy, finding one that would not be missed was not as easy. Finding a necromancer that was also a smoking hot zebra mare, who I would fuck the stripes off of given half the chance was a surprise. Hinao was quite the find. She's brilliant, sexy, rather powerful, exotic with red stripes rather than black, and figured out the answer I needed. Did I mention she was sexy? Any way it seems Tamberlane's spell couldn't attach to a blood line, like I thought, What it attached to was the Princesses race. Basicly to be able to control the island one needed to be Mer or of Mer decent. While I have stuck my dick into the occasional fishy delicacy that came up to trade or what ever they were here for, there were not any living on the island itself. Still with some of the things I had found in the archive I had an idea. I needed to find a Mer and I needed to learn advanced necromancy. I decided to hire on Hinao rather than silence her. It was cheaper in the long run, and I could always kill her later. Until then I put her in a 'official' court outfit for her new station. The skimpy little bit of clothing she had to wear now just made it all the more fun to watch her flank as she walked. I am definitely gonna tap that before I’m done, whether it's still able to move on it's own or not. ============================================ Journal entrys that follow are little more than the occasional note on certain spell combinations, successes and failures by Bray to flirt and try to bed Hinao, and the occasional mention of a failed search for a Mer. It is assumed that at least a few years pass during these entries. The Queen of Changelings oversaw reading these passages to prevent the necromantic knowledge within from being studied by the Princess of Books. Despite her protests that it would be educational. The Librarian wisely steered clear of the argument. ================================================= Relevant entry 4 Finally, my scouts found something. The island is currently passing a small out cropping of rock jutting from the sea. It might have once been a volcano or something of the like, but there is a small settlement on it, mostly composed of Rams. Nothing of note really save most Rams remain as far inland as they could, making this group either a group isolated by the others or just an oddity. It also had what I was after. On the far side of the island from the village was a single small farm at the waters edge. A couple lived there and wouldn't you know it, one of them was of course a fucking ram, but the other was a Mer. I ordered her capture and the Ram's execution if he resisted. The island had gotten lower in the last few years and I was desperate to fix it before my subjects decided that King Bray was just as ineffective as his dad and separate my body into segments. I've done all I can to stave off any naysayers, but my time is limited and hopefully I can hold them off long enough to show results. =========================================== Relevant entry 5 Of course it could never be easy. The Ram resisted as did the Mer, they got the whole damn island involved. Well now there's not a fucking Ram on the island any more and we have more bodies for the necromancers of course, but that was a great waste of my power. I'm also going to have to quickly setup a cover up to explain why an island we passed now has a population of zero. Some abuse of power is to be expected, but killing a whole town is not one of them. Some story of a natural disaster should be easy to set up. Undead don't talk so they won't hear anything from my soldiers and if I poison the well before any one goes to check it out no one will be the wiser, and in a week we'll be out of range of the island before any one can look closer. Despite her injuries I have the Mer. Of course now the hard part comes. Do I trust Hinao enough to let her cut me open to put an organ or two from the Mer in so I can control the island? It's not like I can do it myself. Hehe it would be a interesting joke that a female put something inside me for a change. Still we will have to wait. The Mer is pregnant and Hiano says that will screw with her blood and organs. She needs to be kept alive until at least a few weeks after the child is born. Figures, I’m this close to finally getting control of the damn island and I’m stopped because my target has to pop out a kid. Still this gives me another idea. One that will involve far less pain on my part with the same result. It's likely high time I had a foal of my own to foist all this mess off onto when I want to retire. Of course I made sure my appetites couldn't be used against me a long time ago, so while the weapon is always ready, it's little soldiers are unarmed. Shards that was a bad analogy for my cock and balls. In any event I might be able to set something up here. If I make Hiano my queen it'll cement a few ties with some factions and it's not as if she seems to care about who else I fuck so long as she has access to the castle library. An adopted foal on top of that will be more than enough to stall my doom long enough for the child to learn to control the island. This might work out after all. =================================== A number of entries involve an investigation from the city council and some of Bray's advisers in regards to the island, though nothing of note was listed. ====================================== Relevant entry 6 Well this is a sharding mess. The Mer died in childbirth, the bodies useless to me now. I have scouts looking for another Mer, but I doubt I’ll see any anytime soon, my luck is not that good after all. Still I wasn't expecting an egg. We're trying to figure out how to hatch it now, though it seems I know more than most simply due to Tamberlane's notes, quite a lot of the incoherent ramblings that were the last part of his book had to do with hatching a Mer egg and it's care. There's stranger things going on as well. The last ship that came by brought with it information from the outside world. There's reports of things calling themselves gods appearing in the Zebralands. So far this has caused a number of tribal wars to break out and quite a few splintering factions. The 'Gods' have displayed massive amounts of power and seem unkillable. While this has my interest I am wary of any creature calling itself a God. Tamberlane was oft considered a God as he showed he too was nigh unkillable, but now he's a brain dead fish with an kingdom glued to his back. Powerful individuals do not gods make. Proper Gods can see, know, and do anything. They do not lose their minds, bother to enslave lesser races, or fight over territory. There are no gods, just those that are god like. While I wouldn't mind being the latter I will pass on ever trying to attain true godhood. It sounds too much like being a King, and I’ve had my fill of that. The only other thing of note about the report is the description of the self proclaimed gods. Zebra's with red stripes and small crystal horns. I think I might need to check on Hinao's little circlet the next time we have some fun. It would be a massive stroke to my ego to find I’ve been bedding and ordering about a 'GOD.' ================================================ Journal entry 35- 42 are filled with more observations of various mares asses, details on the short wedding and numerous mentions of certain nobles and advisers getting on Bray's nerves. ============================== Relevant entry 7 Consider my ego stroked. The little red striped Zebra is indeed what her race calls a god. Seems these Gods all can live forever, recover from any wound nearly instantly and they all have one super potent power attached to them. Hinao's is she can speak with the dead. Not particularly useful as that's one of the first spells a Necromancer learns, but she doesn't have to preform the spell, nor specify the undead. She also doesn't have to barter with them or run the risk that she'll be lied to so while rather weak, it's useful. Really it is quite impressive, though I’m more amused by the fact that even as I grow old, that fine ass of hers will remain firm and fun to watch. She came here to study more on necromancy and lets face it with who founded this island there’s no better spot in the world, she didn't expect to gain the position she has however. Still so long as she remains loyal, or at least listens to what I say, I’ve no reason to end her. Or if she really is immortal seal her up in a wall forever, or one of the old stone caskets in the lower flooded levels. While that was interesting news there is of course more. The egg has hatched and …. well, the what ever he is seemingly healthy. He looks just like a Ram with grayish blue fur. He's got a tiny stubby pair of black horns on his head, he has cloven hooves that have a bit of webbing between them and small patches of inky black scales around his joints. He also has small fangs and smells horrid. I named him Grogar after my grandfather, he smelt like shit most of the time too. His birth brought a great deal of pressure off the crown, I made no secret of my attempts to find a way to fix the island and tying the small.. what was it Hinao had called him? Ah yes. ….............Tying the tiny little Capricorn to the way to fix the island worked quite well. My subjects were curious, but excited none the less. It helped that when Grogar hatched the island changed directions in a sudden shift, adding validity to my claim. Of course there's more, and it's why I’m writing this all in various languages. I know Hinao can read Pony, Zebra, and Donkey language, but she's had to ask help for Dog and Griffon before, so I’m mixing this up with some of those and a bit of draconic, cause I’m a genius. Taking so many language lessons when I was young has paid off, and in more ways then just charming exotic females. Speaking of which my encounter with a visiting sailor who was looking for a good time paid out in more than just a little bit of Griffon booty. We had slipped into a back door to the catacombs to avoid notice and we hadn't found a room we just started going at it when I decided I couldn't just watch that tail before me any more. Any way when I pinned her to the wall she must have hit something cause a section of stone fell away to show another chamber. She didn't seem to notice, and I didn't slow up enough for her to pay any attention. After our fun I sent her away and returned down there to see what had opened. The chamber opened into a burial chamber I hadn't seen before. One for King Idosif I read the runes right. The first king of the island after Tamberlane and my great, to the however much six hundred years adds up to, grandfather. Any way so I raided the place naturally. The gold and jewels were useless , but I did find a book sealed in the tome with him. It was old and worn and many of the pages were unintelligible. But from what I did read I found it was a spell book. One copied from the original spell book of King Tamberlane. It wasn't everything of course, as the King had guarded the Gray Grimiore fervently from any one elses eyes until he became a whale, then the book simply vanished. But for some reason Tamberlane saw fit to copy a few dozen spells into this side book. I skimmed over the book realizing the power that this could grant me. Potent spells that would draw from the well of power around me rather than my own power. Spells to create sentient undead and super powerful monsters. Power that could kill a god if she got out of line......... Hinao couldn't be allowed to find this book. I tucked it away in the crypt and returned to copy it as best I could before age and being removed from a sealed tome brought about it's crumpling ruin. Still I had a book full of vicious spells now, as well as the skill to use them thanks to Hinao. It was starting to be good to be king . ================================================== Journal entrys 44 and 45 are illegible as they seem to have been soaked in blood or another liquid that made the ink on the pages blur to far to read. The Princess of Books and The Librarian were both super pissed about this treatment of the book. No one else cared. ============================================== Relevant entry 8 I hate being a father. I like the act of making babies of course, but not dealing with them. He's whiny, clingy, and cries all the time and when he's bitchy the island reacts. So we have to do our best to keep him happy or bad shits gonna happen. He seems attached to Hinao at least. She can usually calm him down. When he's calm he's alright , almost cute with the puffy fur of an infant. I'm sticking close, but I’m letting Hinao and the maids deal with the day to day. I simply show up to play with him or talk with him, trying to imprint on him that I'm his father and he should obey me. When he gets older that will be important. If he has his own ideas he could yank the island out from under me, so I'm being soft touch with him, trying to get him to care for me more than fear me. Of course a healthy dose of fear is needed as well, but not enough that hes scared of me. Despite my best attempts my subjects are starting to catch on that I'm not the one really in control of the island, but I'm the one in control of the one in control. This has put me in the spotlight more than I like. Everyone is keeping tabs on both myself and the new prince, making sure I’m raising him right and sticking with the marriage so as not to upset a happy family. Makes having a bit of fun that much harder for me. I still do mind you, but it's usually after I have to waste the energy to use a 'friends' or 'charm' spell and then suggest that they forget after ward. Strangely the thrill of not getting caught and 'charming' some one who would normally not be subject to my usual skills has been rather fun. Still I can't over do it. Hinao has noticed I've been using a spell or two she didn't teach me and has been questioning where I learned it. I've kept my find a secret so far, but I’ve got to be careful. That Zebra will read anything, she knows to leave my journal be, particularly since I’ve put a locking spell on it, but that has to be renewed every few weeks or it fades. Still there’s a particular spell in the book that I am thinking of trying. A way to exstend your life by the ending of some one elses. ===================================================== A number of journal entries are missing, the pages looking to be torn out. On some of the scraps that were left there are hints that the lost pages were simply antidotes about mares and Grogar growing up and the passage or years . The librarian and Princess of Books had five minutes of silence for the tattered book. Every one else just let them do what they wanted at this point. ========================================================== Relevant journal entry 9 Hinao is dead. I have no idea how I manged to pull it off , the mare shrugged off spells that would have melted a mountain. Found out she had been planning to take over the island, had started plotting behind my back, teaching Grogar to hate me, teaching him the necromancy she knew, things about her people and what I had done to his birth family. Honestly I'm rather lucky in that regard, seems Grogar was smart enough to realize her part in it as well. I think. Grogar has been odd since he was about six and it's only gotten worse the last ten years. He displays little to no sense of empathy seeing everyone as mere objects to slake his curiosity rather than actual living beings. His first kill was a pet bird I brought him when he was seven. Within a day he had taken it apart to study and catalog it's innards. He's done the same with clocks and other objects and even some of the undead that he could claim. As far as I know he had not done so with any thing living larger than animals, but I might be wrong seeing as what Hinao could have been teaching him. When he was twelve he started watching how everything around him worked, relationships , chains of command, finances. He'd seen how the objects in the world worked, now he seemed to be studying how they interacted. Looking back now, I don't know if he planed it or not, she might not have even been conspiring against me. Grogar might have simply wanted to see what happened if I thought she was. When I confronted her she denied it, though when I pressed she pressed back, the fight escalated from there and I let loose with one of the spells I had saved, the whole top of the castle was blown apart, as was Hinao. Not that I got off any better, the explosion dropped the stonework atop of me and the left side of my bodies pretty fucked up. Grogar's sixteen now, so he's been poking his nose into politics. I've got a couple of advisers helping him out while he holds his own court while I’m laid up. Word of how Hiano was attempting a coup has spread rather quickly. So I’ve got a back up story for my actions.... or he does at least. The kids really starting to terrify me. He fixed the island, fixed the Guardians, and fixed a few other issues I didn't even know we had with the power Tamberlane is giving him. He's started showing signs of duel magic as well. Sometimes his magic is sickly yellow, sometimes it's black. I'm not sure which is his and which is the islands. My own studies have allowed me to tap into the islands power a little, I feel why it attracts so many necromancers, but not everything I could do with it. Well least I have more time to study that book now. Plus the nurse is this cute little unicorn mare........ ====================================== Numerous journal entries of pain and mares asses. ================================ Relevant journal entry 10 So it's a little worse than I thought. My subjects are starting to go missing. Nothing major, just a few here and there. Various races, various genders and ages. It looks like the work of a rogue necromancer. In truth this is probably the most normal thing that has happened lately. Some spell singer goes power mad and starts collecting bodies for study. Grogar's already got my soldiers looking into it. Right now none of that's my issue. My issue is due to the damage from that wall falling on me , I’m not likely to ever walk again, my spines bucked up as well as my legs. Worst of all, I can't get it up any more no matter how much that nurse was sucking. My life’s over... Although. My mind is drifting back to that spell I was going to use when i caught Grogars birth mother. Something he still doesn't seem to care about. The kids not even upset over Hinao's death. He was more upset there wasn't much left of her corpse for him to dissect. He's a smart kid but scary, still I can use this. I'd need to out cold for all the work I would need to be preformed. I still don't trust most of my subjects and the few I do, don't have the power. Grogar could have killed me but he didn't and fixing me might be of more interest to him than killing me. I've pointed out all the books with the relevant info in them for him and he's studying them now. This is a risk to go under the knife with him holding it like this, but it's either this or retire and be a lump of flesh doing nothing but playing out my glory days in my head. I'll take the risk. =========================================== Relevant Journal entry 11 I don't know what that little shit did to me, but I know it hurts, a lot. I'm cured, my legs and dick work again and I’m pretty sure that it's bigger than before too... I picked a good donor before I went under. I am not so thrilled that my spine and two of my legs were part of Hinao. In fact I’m pretty sure he replaced more parts than he needed to. Still rather than be a lopsided mess, my new parts are adjusting, changing to match what they should be. He grafted something into my skull as well, pretty sure it's Hinao's horn. It looks like a bright bit of red crystal. No idea how to work it though I can kinda feel something. I can feel the island now too, much more clearly than I could before. I've got no control over it, but I think the power it has is the only thing keeping me alive. I'm more corpse than Donkey now really. Grogar has the book I found. He demanded to know where I learned the spell that I used to kill Hinao and I told him. I didn't have a choice, he asked and the words simply came out. I tried to fight off a second command and the little bitch shut off my lungs and let me suffer not being able to breath for a while. He put me back on the throne as King and had me use my soldiers or the undead he made to capture my subjects. He's got me going out at night and snatching up my subjects bringing them back to be experimented on and dissected. He has great interest in any race he hasn't cut open before and I’ve been forced to raid islands we pass for new creatures. There were nearly sixteen thousand inhabitants of this island living in the city and the outlying farms along the shore. Many of them tried to leave, only a few made it however before he put a shield up around the whole island, he then started killing who ever he wanted to use for parts. He built monsters with the parts and had them go after those still living here. I think... I think there's maybe a hundred left, down in the cells,in hiding, in various stages of being pulled apart for parts, or to see what makes them tick. He's used me a few times as well, adding bits and pieces as he sees fit. He seems some what annoyed that while I gain the benefits of the limbs or organs he attaches there's no real sign that he's done anything. I don't change from looking like a Donkey. He mentioned something last time about the spell he used to revive me being the cause though he wouldn't say what it was. He's let me be for a few months now , busy with toying with the last of the islanders, raising an army of undead. I suppose I’m only still alive as long as I’m useful..... Was he always like this? Or did Hinao teach him to be like this? Either way there nothing left but shambling corpses. I better stop writing just in case he ever finds this and reads it. All hail King Bray... sire of death itself.......