Chapter Fourteen
Following
I spotted the discarded cargo net and branches that had disguised the top of Nebula's envelope and went to get a closer look.
"Luna's fury!" I growled, as my forehooves sank into the sodden ground of the meadow.
Skyla came up behind me, looking down. "Mud?"
"They must have dumped ballast," I said, pulling my hooves free with a squelching sound. "Most of it, apparently."
"Ms. Nightshade," Ao said quietly from behind us. "This one has examined the area of the camp. There are no signs of a struggle. This was an orderly departure."
"Why would our crew leave us behind?" Skyla muttered. "Without you to design the connecting mechanism, they can't hope to open the portal, even if they have enough crystals to power it."
I scooped my small compass out of my saddlebags and touched the hidden spot that activated the locating spell. A short glowing arrow formed above the case. It was angled sharply upward. "Yes, they've gone for altitude, but… east northeast. That's directly away from the Western Territory."
Click, click, click, went the pieces of the puzzle. The timing, the direction they'd gone, the altitude, it all added up.
"Tambelon take it!" I hissed.
Skyla and Ao looked at me expectantly.
"Revenge," I said. "They must have seen Redkeep go up, even from here. Because we're a day late getting back, they think we're dead and they're going to attack the provincial capital."
Skyla frowned. "Are you certain?"
"They've got a load of crystals that they can't use for anything much but crude explosives, they're headed in the direction of Grayhold and they're going for altitude that the imperial ships can't match. It's the most likely scenario." I stretched out my wings and gave them a trial flap. Not back to 100%, but they'd have to do. "We've got to stop them."
Skyla snorted. "You want to save some of the monsters that help run this nightmare government? Really?"
"Wh—" I stared at Skyla. "I want to save our chances of getting home! The imperials might think Redkeep was an accident, but a direct airship attack on the capital... This kind of government thrives on direct military action! Bombing them will only strengthen them!"
"That doesn't make any sense, and I'm not afraid of—"
"It's not a matter of fear!" I stalked toward her, trying to resist the urge to get my point across with sheer volume. "It's a city, not a military installation like the keep! Are dead foals something you want?"
"I… I didn't think—"
"We don't have time to argue if we're going to have a hope of catching up to them," I said, gritting my teeth and shaking my head. "Trust me on this, please!"
Skyla grimaced and nodded, then she floated the big crystal over to her back and lashed it to her harness. "I'll take this. I'm the strongest flyer."
We took to the air, and climbed as quickly as we were able. The sky was rapidly lightening, and I hoped that any pegasi would be looking toward the ground, intent on rounding up the unicorn runaways.
We got into thinner and colder air fairly quickly, but the indicator arrow was still tilted at an unfortunate angle. It wasn't long afterwards that I began to strain and breathe heavily, yet Nebula remained stubbornly out of sight. I didn't want to waste energy getting out my spyglass, so I just clutched the compass and flapped grimly onward and upward.
By the time we sighted the ship, all three of us were nearing exhaustion. Ao's weaker, wingless flight magic, Skyla's burden, and my own not-fully-recovered magic had turned an extremely difficult flight into a nearly impossible one, with Nebula still several hundred lengths above us.
It was a good thing that the Nebulas spotted us, or I don't think we would have made it. The engines spun down to let us catch up, and when it became obvious to the crew that we were struggling to gain altitude, they threw a long net over the side. Swift Wing and Sirocco flew down to boost us up to where we could get hold of the rope mesh. It was far from dignified to be hauled aboard like a sack of potatoes, but at that point, I couldn't have cared less about my dignity.
"I can't believe you're alive!" Filigree said as he helped untangle us from the netting.
"Aren't we too heavy to be ghosts?" Skyla replied a bit testily. Perhaps she was just a teeny bit put out by having been dropped on deck like a piece of cargo.
I got to my hooves. "We're fine, Filigree, thank you. Let's call off the plan to bomb the city, okay?"
He blinked in surprise. "How do you know about that?" He looked over at Skyla for confirmation.
"Cancel it!" she said, through gritted teeth.
Filigree nodded. "It would have taken us another half-day to get all the gems fully charged anyway."
"Please tell me you haven't ruined them with the flawed rhythm yet!" I said.
"Uh… only one small one," he said. "We wanted to cram as much charge as we could into them before setting them to detonate."
It was nice to get a little good news for a change.
Sugarpine pushed his way to the front of the crowd surrounding us. "Glad you're alive," he said. "What's the plan, now?"
"We will have to discuss that," Skyla said, giving him a very hard glare. "But it certainly won't involve killing civilians!"
"Back to the original would be best," I said, as casually as possible. "The explosion at Redkeep will appear to be an accident or simple sabotage, and as long as Nebula hasn't been spotted—"
Sugarpine coughed discreetly. "Well, about that…"
Now the bad news, it seemed.
Swift Wing stepped forward. "A pegasus patrol saw us about an hour ago. They came in for a better look, and we… Well, Sugarpine's ponies shot all but two of them."
"It will only take one to put the whole province on alert," I said. "We should prepare for—"
"Oh, it's alright, ma'am," Swift went on. "Neither of them got away. We captured one, and the other… uh… surrendered, I guess."
I flicked my ears in puzzlement. "Why the uncertainty? Either he surrendered or he didn't."
"She, Ms. Nightshade," Swift said, still behaving like a pony who had something embarrassing to hide. "And she said she wanted to surrender to you specifically." He cleared his throat. "Asked for you by name, actually. Your other name."
"What?"
I hadn't even used the Royal Voice, but Swift winced and took a step back anyway. "I think maybe you should talk to her… alone. She's tied up in the sail locker. Didn't put her with the other one, 'cause they were trying to bite each other's faces off."
I wanted to rush down below decks right away, but there were too many other things that needed attention. I gave myself exactly three deep, slow breaths to bleed away as much tension as possible and then began dealing with the more immediate situation.
Nebula couldn't descend without venting precious lift gas, and since the reserve cylinders were nearly empty and she'd dropped all of her ballast, doing so would be a dangerous (and irreversible) maneuver.
"That must be the Swift River below us," I said to Skyla as we stood near the bowsprit with our spyglasses. "If we head into the mountains north of Grayhold, we may be able to anchor in a high valley… get some water or melt snow to fill the tanks." I took another look through my glass. "Seems to be some feral clouds up there. Might make for decent cover."
"What about lift gas?" she asked, chewing lightly at her lower lip.
"If we can find the right minerals, I can design another waveguide to power the spell to extract gas for us. We've got enough unicorns aboard for plenty of recharge capability, at least."
"That will take some time," she said, considering. "If we're spotted before Nebula's ready, we'll be nearly helpless."
"The chances of that are very slim," I reassured her. "Pegasi will have trouble flying that high, and the air currents in the mountains are so dangerous that no airship captain would…" I trailed off, realizing that my reassurance was turning out to be not all that reassuring.
Skyla looked over at me with a crooked grin. "No sane airship captain would try flying through those peaks, right?"
I sighed. "No captain with any other options, at least."
Skyla nodded. "I wish we could just attack an imperial ship and take their supplies, but I suppose your insane plan is the least risky course of action." She paused for a moment, carefully collapsing and putting her spyglass away, then said, "And it will give us plenty of time to discuss exactly how we are going to cut the head off this vile empire."
"That might be a very apt analogy, if we consider the Empire of Earth as a hydra. Cut off one head and you'll get two in its place." I held up a hoof to stop Skyla's angry reply. "To kill a hydra, you have to sneak under its belly and stab for the heart. Tough scales there, but it's just a matter of finding the right spot."
"And what spot is that?" she asked me, dubiously.
"Well, there's certainly a chink in their armor," I replied. "Let's go talk to the pegasi, shall we?"
Skyla gave the orders to get Nebula headed on the right course, made sure the crew and passengers knew what to do,[1] and then we went to talk to our captives.
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[1] And, more importantly, what not to do.
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We visited the pegasus who had been captured first. I let Skyla precede me into the hold so that I could watch the pony's reaction when he caught sight of her. It was a pretty standard sequence of surprise, momentary disbelief, shock, and then violent threats to cover up bone-deep terror.
Then I stepped out of the shadows.
"You're real," he moaned, going absolutely rigid in his bonds.
I didn't put on the monster act for him; he was terrified enough already, and I hoped to get some sense out of him. "Do you know who I am? Do you know my name?"
"Oh yes, I know you," he said. "I never really believed, but now I do. You are the Thief of Honor, the Replenisher of Graves, the Separator of Friends, the Terminator of Delights, the End of All That is—"
"But what is my name?" I insisted, cutting off the rather dreary CV that showed no sign of ending soon.
"Only that crazy blacklip is foolish enough to speak your name out loud!" he said, shivering so violently that his hooves rattled on the deck.
"Black Lip? Is that your comrade's name?" It couldn't hurt to ask.
He laughed mirthlessly. "Loose Leaf… I should have killed her!"
"Why? Help me understand."
But the pegasus had shut down. He squeezed his eyes shut and began reciting in a low shaking voice. "My honor is the honor of my flock; our hearts beat as one and our sacred duty binds us. My honor is the honor of my flock; our hearts beat as one and our sacred duty binds us. My honor is the honor of my flock…"
"We won't harm you—" Skyla began, but I shook my head and motioned her toward the companionway.
"Best to leave him alone for now," I said. "He won't believe anything we say."
We went forward to the sail locker and I knocked on the bulkhead before entering, calling out through the thin partition, "I hear you've been asking for me?"
There came a strained laugh from the other side. "Not unless you're Twilight Sparkle, I haven't."
Skyla and I exchanged glances.
"And where did you hear that name?" I asked, still keeping hidden.
"I wouldn't be much of a blacklip if I didn't know the true name of the Thief of Honor, would I?"
"Twilight Sparkle. Well, that's interesting. Do you know her cutie mark as well?"
"Of course I…" She stopped and kicked a hoof against the bulkhead. "Go shove your horn through a tree, you miserable screwhead! Stop taunting me!"
I almost snapped back, but held myself in check and said quietly, "Now is that any way to talk to the Replenisher of Graves?"
There was a long silence, and then she asked, "Who are you?"
"You named me only moments ago."
"Show me! Show yourself!" Oddly, her voice didn't sound fearful. If anything, she seemed… eager.
Time for the big entrance. I stepped through the doorway and flared my wings, grinning. I made sure to step slightly to one side so that the mare could have a good view of my cutie mark. "Hello, little one," I said, in my warmest, friendliest tone of voice.
Same sequence of reactions as before, except it ended differently. After looking back and forth between my cutie mark and my face for at least a half-dozen times, the pegasus smiled so broadly I thought her cheeks might cramp up.
"You're real!" she said in a voice of breathless wonder.
Then her eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted dead away.
Skyla gave me a wary, sidelong look. "Does this sort of thing happen to you a lot?"
"More often than it ought to," I admitted.[2] I pulled back one of the pegasus's eyelids and took a look at her pupil. "She'll be okay in a minute. There'll be some convulsions when her blood pressure comes back up. I'll keep her from banging her head against the deck."
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[2] The most extreme reaction I ever induced when suddenly recognised (as Captain Blackmane), was from a hulking stallion who had tried to slit his own throat with a belaying pin. It's odd how a reputation can be so powerful.
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"She's awfully skinny for a warrior," Skyla observed. "They tend not to faint when excited, either."
I nodded toward the mare's cutie mark, which was a green quill pen over a wisp of white cloud. On closer examination, I saw that the pen was made from a leaf, not a feather. I turned her head in my magic to get a look at her lips. Sure enough, they were somewhat ink-stained.
"She must be a scribe or chronicler," I said. "Probably only up here on patrol because of the all-hooves-on-deck situation. We may be in luck."
The mare started trembling, and I took a firmer grasp on her with my magic as her convulsions became more violent. After a moment she settled down, and she moaned and her eyelids began to flutter.
"It's all right," I told her. "You just fainted. Take a few deep breaths. Don't try to sit up yet."
When she finally looked up, a big, stupid grin stretched across her face. "You're real," she said.
I nodded. "I know. Don't forget to breathe."
She got a very disturbing look in her eyes and tried to reach out and touch my hooves. We had wisely refrained from untying her.
"I will serve you, oh dark one! I will obey you unto death!" she gasped out, still trying to touch me. "I will worship you!"
It was then that Ao floated into the room, carrying in her magic a tray of food and water for the prisoner. She raised an eyebrow and turned to me. "This one is gratified that at least one pony aboard has the correct attitude toward Your Majesty," she said, her expression the furthest from a sarcastic smirk as she could manage.
The pegasus fainted again.
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