Prey stood between Sunshine and Sky Flight as they kept watch over him, the end of the chain leading from his inhibitor collar to Sky Flight's grip. Thankfully, they had at least let him remove that stifling cloak.
He kicked a fragment of burnt scroll across the ash stained carpet , regarding the tall racks that had held Cedar Fields small library. 'Had' being the key word here. Now it was a half burnt mess, with old book spines, slashed covers, scrolls and loose or ripped out pages scattered all across the circular room.
"Well?" Captain Valour asked impatiently from behind him, "What is it you needed to see?"
Prey pointed at one of the wooden racks. The top shelves were empty, with the remaining books in the lower half badly blackened. Almost all of the rest of the racks were also either smashed or burnt respectively, aside from one shelf which hadn't been touched at all in the rush, "That." Prey said.
"What about it?" Captain Valour asked, annoyance clear.
Prey couldn't resist an innocent smile, blue eyes wide and head tilted to the side, "You mean you don't you see it?" He inquired. If it weren't for the clear mockery in his tone, you'd never have known it from his angelic expression.
The Captain gritted his teeth, and Sunshine and Sky Flight copied their captains glare as they all stared at him, "This is the last time I will say this. Explain." Valour growled.
Prey knew that the Captain meant it, so he ducked his head submissively.
"Alright. Let me explain my thought process." Prey said, and inside he added, 'And let me mislead you.'
"See that shelf over there? Go over and have closer look, specifically at the top shelves. What do you notice?" Prey asked.
Valour took a step closer to the indicated shelf while keeping a watchful eye on Prey in case of trickery, "What of it? The rest of the shelves are also all burnt or pillaged, aside from that one." He said, indicating the lone book shelf which stood almost untouched.
"Yes, but I'm not interested in that one. Look carefully at this shelf, notice anything about the burn marks on the empty shelves?" Prey asked. There was a minutes pause as the Captain studied the shelf, Sky Flight and Sunshine subtly doing the same while still standing guard over their prisoner.
"The scorch marks go all the way to the back." Captain Valour said.
"Correct. If you look at the marks other shelves, then you can see that the scorches are only near the front. Meaning that there were still books in those shelves when the fire spell was cast. A flash fire most likely. In fact you can plainly see the charred remains of said books still on those them." Prey explained.
"Why is that important?"
"It means that those shelves were emptied before the spell was cast. Have a look at the label for the shelf. The metal tag hasn't melted away, so you can still see that." Prey said. Captain Valour scuffed off the lingering ash from the small plaque, easily reaching the high shelf whereas Prey would've needed a ladder.
"'L - O'. All the books starting L, M, N or O. So what? There are a lot of destroyed books around here, they're just another hoofull at this point." The Captain said with a dismissive snort, although Prey caught a hint of interest in his tone.
"Those books were purposefully taken from the shelves before the vandalism took place. I would bet if you sifted through these remains, you wouldn't find any titles starting L, M, N or O. The thieves took these books on purpose rather than destroy them."
"You can't be sure of that." This came from Sunshine.
"Yes I can. And how am I so sure? Simple," Prey said with a shrug, "Because it was the same at other mansions. Or at least, those which had a report detailing the damage to their respective libraries. In passing, the reports noted the same pattern, titles beginning L, M and N taken. Not in as many words, but enough to spot a pattern. Once is coincidence, but this is the third occurrence which has been clearly documented. I bet the other mansions were the same, just nobody noticed."
"Nopony." Sky Flight corrected immediately.
Prey ignored him.
"Why does any of that matter in the long run? Why do these books matter?" Valour questioned.
"To that, I'm afraid I don't know the answer-" Prey replied.
Captain Valour snorted dismissively and turned away.
"-However I do know that these books are very important to the thieves. After all, those books were the whole reason Cedar Fields mansion was targeted in the first place."
Captain Valour paused, "Can you be sure of that?"
"Yes. When I questioned Cedar Fields about everything of value in his mansion, what was the one topic I brought up that made him snap?" Prey asked, pausing to let them answer the obvious question themselves.
For a moment it seemed none of them would out of annoyance or spite, but within a few moments Sunshine gave the answer; "The subject of his books and library."
"Yes. The topic of these stolen books is clearly linked to the theft. Why else would Cedar Fields snap after the mention of them, but not for the rest of his things that were stolen, like the diamonds or gold? Now why would these thieves remove this memory in particular and leave a trigger in it's place? Why go to such effort to cover their tracks for these books? What is so special about these books in particular?"
"That is what you're here for. Figure it out." The Captain stated bluntly.
Prey paused to give the captain a bright smile just because he knew it annoyed the unicorn.
"I can only speculate, but all the libraries from the robbed mansions haven't been the ordinary variety of books. The books here are, or were, rare and hard to obtain. Some of them could easily have been one of a kind before they were burnt, not something you could pick up at your local library." Prey said with a shrug, shifting around on his tired hooves to try and find a more comfortable position. It had been a rough forty-eight hours.
"But how are these thieves figuring out which ponies to target? What's the link?" Sunshine mused, then answered his own question, "Of course, their families all go back generations to the Old Country Gentry."
"Yes. These books must've all come from the same era or place. There's something important in those books." Prey confirmed.
"So they're searching for something, and they haven't found it yet." Sunshine said.
"Or they already have." Prey chimed in.
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe they're trying to stop anyone else finding it too. Maybe that's really why they're breaking into all these houses and burning the books. To stop others learning the secret." Prey suggested.
"I think you're mistaken," Sunshine broke in, "If they are trying to suppress this knowledge, then they're only drawing more attention to it if they keep destroying a certain set of books. No, they must still be searching. It's the only explanation that makes sense."
Prey pushed aside his tiredness to give Sunshine one of his most winning smiles, "Oh really?" He didn't say anything else, just smiled at Sunshine.
The unicorn evenly met his eyes, not giving in for a full minute. "Alright, what am I missing?" Sunshine asked with a scowl.
"Just the fact that if that was what they wanted, why would they make it so obvious? They could just sneak in, steal the one or two relevant books and leave. But that's not their tactic. Why leave so much evidence of their crime if not because they have no other option?" Prey asked, kicking aside another fragment of burnt paper.
"It's because the thieves don't know when they break in if what they're after is in there, and neither do they have the time to read all the books to be sure. They roughly know what they're after, in the M, N and L section, but not which titles specifically. So they take them all." Prey explained.
"The prisoner is mistaken, the books are not their main objective. Most likely they only want a certain book because of its high value." Captain Valour said to Sunshine.
Prey shot the Solar Guard captain a questioning look, "What part of my explanation was not clear enough-?"
"You ignored the main point 452. These thieves stole many thousands of bits worth of gold and property, and destroyed what they could not carry off. Greed is obviously their primary motivation, plain and simple." Captain Valour told Prey.
"I'm afraid you're the one mistaken captain. The rest of what they take is just a distraction, although a welcome bonus no doubt. Think about this. If they could just get in, take all the books, remove Cedar Fields memory, and get out unnoticed, wouldn't that be better than leaving all this evidence behind?" Prey asked.
"That only proves my point, that they want bits, not books." Captain Valour snapped.
"Not so. They did it because they have no choice but to conceal their theft of the books under the guise of greed. They do this because there are some memories they can't remove. Those of the servants and house keepers." Prey replied.
All the Solar Guards paused at that.
"Their memories?" Sky Flight asked dubiously.
"Yes. The thieves cannot remove all these memories. There are just too many ponies who would have seen the books. Maids who dusted them, butlers who sorted them, family, guests, etcetera. So they disguised their efforts by robbing the whole house, and burning the rest of the books to make it difficult to tell which was which." Prey explained, waving a hoof at the destroyed out library.
"Your logic is looping back on itself. If that were the case, why bother to remove the memories of Cedar Fields at all? Just steal, burn, or destroy everything instead. And why remove the knowledge of the books in particular? Removing the memories only makes it more obvious by their very absence." Valour pointed out.
"You didn't notice it before I told you," Prey responded. "And you're forgetting the original reason the thieves removed Cedar Fields memories. The thieves took control of his mind on the Friday evening, and had him send all of the staff home on the Saturday morning. Then, after they'd come in and ransacked the place, they removed all memories of their identities and also what they were really after as a fail safe. Quite clever really." Prey said.
Captain Valour gave Prey an ugly look, then turned to the other two Solar Guards standing either side of Prey, "What is your opinion? Does what the prisoner say make sense?" He asked.
"Sir, we follow what ever you think is right." Sky Flight replied immediately.
"Thank you, but I want and value your opinion as one of my Solar Guards." Captain Valour said.
"Sir, in that case, I think that 452 is probably correct. What she, er, he, had to say made sense. Mostly." Sunshine answered.
Captain Valour looked at Sky Flight, "And you?"
"Sir, I'm not sure I agree with all of it, but unfortunately, I do think the prisoner has a point." The Solar Guard responded, looking slightly guilty for having agreed with anything Prey had to say.
Captain Valour considered for a minute longer before making his choice, "Alright. You two, get the prisoner under the cloak and take him back. Don't let him touch anypony or anything on the way and stand guard. I'll send your relief in about four hours. I will get somepony to work with the local Guard to draw up that list of potential victims that match the thieves known targets and get undercover observers in place immediately. That is all."
"Yes sir!" Came the joint response.
------
After being bundled back into the overly large cloak once again, Prey, despite his furious protests, was picked up by Sunshine's magic and carried out of Cedar Fields mansion. Sky Flight got annoyed by Prey's demands to 'be released' and 'allowed to walk', and told his partner to put a silencing charm on the small sheep.
Sunshine did so straight away when Prey's protests immediately went up a notch at the suggestion. "Honestly," The Solar Guard unicorn told Prey as his horn lit up, "Why're you complaining? I'm the one carrying you and it's much faster than you'd be able to walk. Stop making a fuss, it's just magic." He said as he finished casting the charm.
After that there was relative quiet as they moved through the streets. The approach of dusk had cleared out the majority of ponies who might have been out and about. Meaning they arrived back at the local guard compound without incident, entering in through a back door. Sky Flight sent away the few ponies they met in the corridors on route to Prey's prison/office. After Sunshine used the 'magical key spell' to unlock the door, they went inside and shut the door.
Only once the ripple of magic flowed out to signal the room was again sealed, did Sunshine drop both the silencing charm and Prey.
The Solar Guards stood alert and out of hoofs reach while Prey struggled out of the cloak. Prey didn't say a word as he kicked off the last fold with a rattle of his chains. Just levelly glared at the Solar Guards instead. Picking up the cloak, Prey moved to go towards the small bedroom, but Sunshine stopped him.
"Where are you going?"
Prey gave the Solar Guard a blank look, "To sleep of course. There's a bed in there, so I'm not going to let it go to waste." He replied.
"The captain gave no orders for you to retire for the night." Sky Flight intoned like he was reciting scripture.
Prey turned his flat gaze on the Pegasus. He was tired and not interested in arguing, "I'm tired, and there are no other tasks that I have been set, so it would be the best use of my time to rest now. I cannot keep going indefinitely without either sleep or food. There is no food present in here, so I shall sleep instead." Prey told the two Guards.
Once again Prey made to leave them behind and go to the large bed, or large for him anyway. The chain brought him up short before he could get through the door. Sky Flight had the other end firmly wrapped around his hoof, "We did not give you permission to sleep." He said.
Prey just looked at him, no expression on his face. He didn't say anything, curling up right where he was in the doorway instead and closing his eyes.
"Hey-!"
"Let him sleep." Sunshine broke in.
Sky Flight flicked an ear at the unicorn, "You're not getting soft and feeling sorry for the prisoner now are you?" He asked with a snort.
Sunshine gave a snort of his own, "Hardly, but there is no reason not to let him use the bed. It's easier to watch him in there, and it's only for another three hours, then we're done with our shift. I'll be going to the bar, you want to come?" He offered.
Sky Flight merely shook his head, "You're a drunk." He told Sunshine, but he let Prey's chain go slack.
"Wonder bolt fancolt." Sunshine returned easily, as Prey got up silently and went over to the bed.
Sky Flight didn't deign to reply to that directly. "We're on duty. Try to act like a Solar Guard." He sniffed, standing up straighter at his post.
Sunshine rolled his eyes but matched him, both Solar Guards standing at the entrance to the bedroom, one watching where Prey had buried himself under the blanket, and the other watching the office room and the other door.
Prey made sure he was properly hidden by the blanket and curled up tightly before he let the shivers come.
Tiny tremors that rippled up and down his body as the day caught up with him. It wasn't the lack of food or sleep deprivation, he'd endured much worse before. Neither was it getting stunned by Sunshine or punched in the face by Cedar Fields, although that still ached.
No, it was that unicorns had used magic on him, repeatedly so. Casually and blatantly flaunting their power over him without giving it any thought. Like it was nothing. He was currently helpless and could not do a thing about if they decided to kill him.
Prey could hide his fear when they weren't directly using their magic on him. When they did, even for something as mundane as telekinesis, he couldn't control the terror he felt. Fear of magic had been ingrained into him, as it had for every Resistance fighter who'd been at the Hill that day. They'd learnt the true meaning of the word 'helpless' in the face of the overwhelming magical fire power of a full company of Border Guard unicorns.
'I'll kill them.' Prey promised himself, 'I'll kill them I swear. Sunshine, Valour and all the rest of them. They have to die so I can be safe.'
A part of him still just wanted his mother and brother back even after all these years. The need was childish and pathetic, and he wished as he'd wished a thousand times before, that he could just grow up and move past it. But the curse that preserved his physical body and spiked heart also kept his mind that of a youth in many ways.
If it weren't for the fact that he was a prodigy, it was likely Prey would never have developed beyond the mental age of nine. Prey had taken on the curse sixty one years, five months, one week and one day ago. He'd been fighting and killing in the resistance for three years by that point. He'd been nine at the time. But he'd joined when he was six.
'I'll kill them. Unicorns die just the same as any other pony when their head melts from Bone Rot. I will kill them. I promise.' Prey told himself.
Prey hugged himself tightly until the trembling stopped and he finally drifted into sleep.
------
The dreams that night felt like they wanted to be nightmares, but Prey wouldn't let them develop into that. With iron concentration he bent them to his will, only allowing them to show what he wanted. Prey had disciplined his mind beyond what most could hope to achieve. Fifty seven years in the isolation of a cell had left him nothing to do but either completely give in to insanity, or exercise his mind.
Prey had already defeated the madness he carried, and what was insanity compared to madness? So he chose to train his mind instead. Because of this, Prey could control his dreams except in cases of either extreme exhaustion or enforced unconsciousness.
Like when he had been hit with that stunning spell earlier.
Prey rarely ever truly slept. Even while asleep, his mind kept working and thinking, although not at its full capacity. Somewhere in the deeper blue fading to dark blue level. In this lucid yet asleep state, Prey could work on his problems or review memories looking for new insights.
This night, while asleep in a bed under watch from two Solar Guards, a certain memory came to mind. Prey let it run its course, taking in the details and feelings afresh.
---The past---
Prey was crouched over a piece of slate. Sweat dripped into his eyes as he manipulated the fragment of bone in his fore hooves to correctly scribe out the rune 'Besk'. Behind him, his master Snake stood watching his efforts critically.
"You must be swifter. When we travel out to prepare the ground, we will not have the luxury of time. If you delay us, I will break your legs and leave you to distract the Guard." The zebra stated in that blank accent of his.
Prey didn't respond. He didn't have the energy to, even if he had been brave enough to form one. Instead he tried to speed up, moving from the 'Besk' rune to the 'Yress' one. These were apparently lesser runes in the old Runic alphabet, but Prey had been at it for hours. Each time he made a mistake or even simply took too long, Snake made him start again.
Prey was exhausted. Creating runes drained him in a way that he had never experienced before,. It left him feeling thin and stretched inside, as if even breathing was too much effort. If these were only lesser runes, he didn't want to know what creating a higher one would do to him.
Prey didn't know what these runes did. All that had happened was Snake had ordered him to stop preparing a batch of Vox'vola poison and to copy out a set of runes.
Prey had promptly done so, tracing out the runes perfectly and presenting them for inspection. Snake had then struck him with a thorny withe across the back of his legs and instructed him to do it again, but this time "Focus your energy into it." It had taken six more failed attempts and increasingly heavy blows from the thorn switch before Prey had finally figured out what it was that Snake meant.
The trick was to 'know' what you were creating, not just writing it, and put your all into it's creation. He was pathetically grateful when he figured it out, he'd been growing desperate. Prey wasn't sure how much longer Snake would have kept at it before the voodoo witch decided he was a lost cause and simply disposed of him. Snake was not forgiving of failure. Prey's back legs were already beaded all over with spots of blood by that point. It had actually been one of Snake's less harsh punishments.
Apparently, even the zebra had known that Prey couldn't learn to properly create runes the first time around. If Snake had just explained, Prey could have done it sooner, but that was not the zebra's way. He only ever showed you the process once, and then you had to do it. Sink or swim. That was how it was for a lot of things in the resistance. So far, Prey had managed to swim. Thank the Moon for that, or else he'd have been buried in the mud by now.
He didn't feel thankful.
Prey moved as swiftly as he could to the 'Myru' rune. 'Only three more to go, only three more to go.' He silently chanted in his head through the grey fog of pain and exhaustion.
Prey didn't want to know what these runes were for, he'd only caught glimpses of Snake working with them a few times. But he knew that whatever these were for, they were evil.
'Thijak' came next. Prey felt like he could hardly muster the energy to blink away the sweat, but he forced his hooves to keep going. The curve of the runes double barrel took shape while Prey panted.
Prey didn't even have the energy to hate Snake, the source of his torment. He hadn't had the energy for a while now. Not since Fleece's, no, Breaker's death. Nothing seemed to matter anymore.
Not the exhaustion, sorrow, or the painful and cruel pranks of the camp that were frequently heaped upon him, as the Resistance fighters took out their anger and frustration on him, the camps weakest member. He often went to sleep bruised and bloodied. Prey couldn't even hate them, there was no point.
He had fallen into apathy and melancholy. Nothing held any value to him, because there was no one left.
Prey knew he had despaired. He felt crushing guilt at his brother and mothers deaths. Yule Leaf had been exactly the same when she'd heard her son had been accidentally killed in a raid. She'd blamed herself, and nothing anyone did could shake her from her downward spiral into despair.
Prey recognised and acknowledged it was the same for him. But that only made it worse. He knew, and felt even more guilty and torturous for realising it. Prey had failed both of them, he should never have left his mother that night, he shouldn't have ever let Breaker leave.
The Resistance had taken everything from him, and yet here he was, carving runes on a piece of slate for them. He hated himself. He hated that he was weak. He hated that he still couldn't stand up to them, even if they were going to kill him. He hated that he couldn't bring himself to care. Nothing mattered anyway. The only thing left to do was minimise his own suffering till his time came to join his family in the next life.
Maybe once there he'd at least have the opportunity to say sorry before he was cast down to hell.
It was all his fault. Out of all three of them, he should have known better. He'd always prided himself on being cleverer than everyone in the village, yet he hadn't saved his mother or brother.
'Mother.' 'Brother.' Prey felt unworthy to even think in such terms. They were the mother and brother of Gossamer. He wasn't Gossamer. He was Prey. Gossamer was gone. He was all that was left behind to struggle on futilely.
"That is acceptable." Snake's words broke Prey out of his stupor. Prey realised he was lying on the ground, his legs having finally given out. The piece of slate lay next to his head. 'Did I finish?' Prey wondered numbly. He couldn't see the surface of the slate from where he lay, and his head was too heavy to lift and look.
Snake reached down and picked it up, Prey saw the leg with its witch charms and bracelets come into his field of vision, then withdraw with the slate. Prey just wanted to go to sleep, but his mind wouldn't let him. It was still too active, chasing itself in miserable circles.
There was some clattering in the tent, and then the voodoo witch moved back into Prey's line of sight, although still completely ignoring the collapsed runt. Snake laid the slate on the ground face up, then carefully sprinkled a pinch of some green powder on it. 'A required activation agent.' Prey's exhausted mind supplied an answer, even if he didn't care. Keeping a wary distance, Snake went over to a jar on the far wall which contained a living mouse, and, catching it by the tail, lifted the squirming animal out.
With a flick of his hoof, Snake tossed the mouse through the air and onto the slate. The was a squeak, a green flash and then a muffled bang.
Through bleary eyes, Prey looked for the mouse. It was still there, but crumpled and twisted with little bits of white poking through its skin. Bone fragments he realised. The mouse was very dead, but the slate had broken into tiny pieces as well.
Prey was no fool, he knew why he'd been forced to learn this skill, and what Snake was going to do with it. Runes that exploded with bone shattering force when a living creature passed over them could only have one use. And with what the voodoo witch had said earlier, he was going to to force Prey into accompanying him to lay a trap for the Guard. Snake was going to turn him into a killer, and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Acceptable." Snake decided, studying the result, "Clean this up before I return." That was all the zebra said before he turned and walked out of the tent, leaving Prey lying there.
Through half closed eyes that couldn't even cry anymore, Prey stared at the canvas tent wall. It was stained and streaked with dirt and fouler things. 'How much longer?' Prey thought. 'How much longer in this hell until I die?'
It wasn't till later when he looked back, that Prey realised he'd learnt an important lesson that day.
Those who said 'when you have nothing you have nothing to lose' were wrong. As long as you were still alive, there was always something more that could be taken from you. Your pride, your health, your mind, your body, your innocence, your love, your self respect, your sanity, your blood, sweat, and tears, and finally in the end, your life.
'Guess I'm going to keep living and losing everything, piece by piece, till someone finally takes my life as well.' Prey let out a hollow giggle through numb lips, "And may you find much joy in taking it, because I'm going to bring nothing but misery until you do." He mumbled to the dead mouse.
---The present---
Prey lay under the blanket. His eyes were closed and he hadn't moved an inch from where he'd lain down, but he wasn't asleep. He was thinking, letting his mind pick over his past life. Prey knew he'd been only young back then, grieving, shattered by survivors guilt and depression. That was only to be expected.
But he'd been wrong to feel such despair when there were those still left alive to pay. Captain Fire Strike still had much to lose for taking his brother from him. It hadn't been Fire Strike personally, in fact Prey didn't know who it was that had actually killed Breaker. Probably just some Border Guard.
It hadn't been anything out of the ordinary. His brother was simply in a patrol that ran into a Guard unit by accident. Five killed, all of them on the Resistance's side. The griffin Razor and his brother Breaker were among those slain.
Prey had collapsed from shock when they'd announced the news. He couldn't believe it, his brother was dead? But how? Wasn't Razor supposed to be one of the Resistance's founding members and a strong warrior? Even though Razor had stolen and twisted his brothers mind, Prey'd still held the desperate expectation that the griffin's presence would somehow be enough to keep Breaker alive.
Prey smiled bitterly to himself under the covers. He'd learnt another important lesson on that day. No one is immortal. Anyone can be killed. There had been a deer in the camp who had been annoyingly fond of saying; 'We all have to cross the river some day.' If Prey remembered correctly, and he always did, that deer had died to a bug-bear. But Prey remembered his words.
'Captain Valour shall learn both lessons. You can't bring a snake into your home and think you won't get bitten.' He thought.
Captain Valour had many things that could be taken from him, as did all the Solar Guards. They just didn't realise it yet, nor what kind of threat Prey posed. He would continue to play his part, lulling them into a false sense of security. He would leech away their wariness, let them think they were making their own decisions when in fact they were just following his. 'The best pieces are those who think they are making their own moves.'
Like right now, the Solar Guard thought that these thieves were after a set of books from the L, M, N sections of these rich ponies libraries.
That was only half the truth. The Solar guard thought that looking for these books and then laying a trap was what would lead them to catching the thieves.
That might work, if not for the small fact that the real stolen books had been the ones hidden in safes and lock boxes throughout the raided mansions. Prey refused to believe that someone like Cedar Fields didn't have a hidden safe. And if he did, then so too did most of the other rich mansion owners as well.
Safes and lock boxes that had now been forgotten by their owners.
Safes and lock boxes that had now been forgotten by their owners. The thieves would have discovered these stashes when they read the owners memories. Later, when they removed said memories, the safes existence became lost to all but the thieves themselves.Even now, hidden under floor boards or behind picture frames lay empty safes which their owners had no knowledge of. Just forgotten and collecting dust.
What the Solar Guard didn't realise was that almost all the mansions they were watching had already been hit.
That drivel about the thieves not being able to teleport into mansions on leylines and bed rock was the truth. What Prey's captors somehow had failed to grasp, was that this didn't stop the thieves simply robbing mansions which weren't built on leylines. These books weren't exclusive to only those mansions after all.
The difference was, that when these normal mansions were hit, there was no crime scene. The thieves simply teleported in, subdued the owner, and searched his memories to see if he had the books. If he did, they took the books and his memory of the books. If not, they simply took his memory either way and teleported out with no one any the wiser.
The only reason for the elaborate crime scenes and vandalism inside the mansions which couldn't be teleported in and out of was to serve as a distraction. Prey had been telling the truth when he'd informed the Solar Guards of that.
That just left the question of why they took the M, N, and L books from Cedar Fields mansion and also the other houses they'd obviously raided . Prey guessed it was as an insurance policy. It wasn't a large stretch of the imagination to think that a rich pony, (with a house so big they had to hire others just to keep it running) might have more books on their shelves than they even knew the titles of.
Hence, when the thieves checked the owners memories, the owner didn't actually know all the books they had in their collection. Additionally, in the mansion's like Cedar Fields where they couldn't teleport out of, they were no doubt pressed for time. So they took all the 'L' to 'N' books both in the safes and also the ones on the shelves. Just to be sure.
It all made perfect sense to Prey, even if it wouldn't to anyone else. It was quite similar to something he'd do in their place. 'I wonder who the unicorn leader of this group is, and what's in those books that they're so desperate to find?' Prey wondered.
It didn't really matter. He could learn it all once he ripped it from their memories. However, it would certainly make it easier to predict their actions if he could figure out what was the information in those books. But since the thieves had already gone to such lengths to prevent it coming to light, that was probably a vain hope.
Any theory he might produce was as likely to be wrong as right under such circumstances, and he would be disinclined to trust anyone else's theory on the matter. It could even be possible that such a theory was a ploy cleverly left behind by the thieves to throw Prey off the scent. 'Me off the scent? No, the Guards, but not me personally. Unless the Solar Guards have a traitor in their midst, the thieves know nothing of me.'
Captain Valour had ordered a list of all the potential mansions the thieves had yet to hit be created yesterday. They hadn't drawn up the list yet, but Prey had already worked out that out of the thirty two possible targets, at least twenty one of them had already been hit. Although the Solar guard only knew about six of those incursions. Out of the remaining eleven mansions, another five definitely hadn't been raided yet, while there was insufficient evidence to determine the status of the remaining six.
'Five targets left atleast. I have some time then.' Prey decided.
Time that he was currently spending lying on a surprisingly comfortable bed. Much more comfortable than he deserved, what with being a dangerous criminal responsible for some of the most heinous crimes imaginable to ponykind, and quite a few more that they couldn't.
Then again, for some reason they didn't seem to have his full criminal record. That, and the Solar Guards were ponies. They were soft, having grown complacent under the safety of Celestia's wing.
'The blanket's nice though.' Prey thought, pulling it closer around him. They had not allowed the prisoners in Dreverton blankets, only a bunk firmly bolted to the floor. The Guards didn't want the prisoners hanging themselves or anything. Absently, he probed his split cheek with his tongue where Cedar Fields had struck him. To his annoyance, he found it still stung.
With a sigh, Prey kicked the blanket off and rolled into a sitting position with a clink of chains, he'd rested long enough.
The two Solar Guards at the door stiffened at his movement and stood alert. It was two unicorns that Prey didn't know the name of. He'd been aware of the Guard shift changing during the night despite being asleep, but it wasn't important. Paying them no attention, he let himself down off the bed, sliding off to land on the floor with a 'plop', rear hooves first. He took a drink from the sink, hauling himself up to the tap and dangling by his front hooves, luckily still not high up enough to look in the small mirror.
When he was done he walked out of the door into the office. The two unicorns said nothing, just floated over the chain leash and clicked it back onto the bracket in the middle of the floor. Prey spared the unicorn an eye roll before he scrambled up the chair leg and onto the high pile of cushions.
"Don't worry I've got this covered, I don't need any helping hoof up, I'm fine." Prey sweetly told the two Guards.
They flared their nostrils but otherwise did not react. Seems they were determined to keep out of hoofs reach. 'Oh well, it was a slim chance anyway.' Prey thought with a mental shrug.
He took a moment to survey all the piles of paper he had sorted over the last two days. They were exactly as he'd left them.
Prey didn't have anything to do. He'd already read all the reports, and with some concentration, could recall any one of them on demand. Prey looked out the barred window, which showed nothing but the blank side of another Guard building. It looked like it was still early morning. Prey looked down and gave the chain attacked to his inhibitor collar an experimental tug. 'Nope, still no change. Still a prisoner.'
Prey sighed and picked up one of the closest reports. Dully he began picking through it, the very picture of boredom while the grey light from outside slowly filtered into the room.
Inside, he waited and planned.
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[[[Bonus Picture- The Deeper Green Fireside Camp]]]