Of course it would be house Vengeance.
Gina realized there was a little bias there. Vengeance was the clan that took in many of her former house. They had been the ones always at odds with Virtue. From the point of view of a civil servant like herself, who was privy to the machinations of the empress and her husband, it seemed as though the world might be peaceful and prosperous forever if only Vengeance would just submit to imperial authority and do what they were told.
Of course the assassin would’ve come from that house. Naturally Gabriel escaped any culpability for his attempted murder, and since the slave had been slain by Velar’s overzealous guards, they would never be able to perform the interrogation that might link him to the clan lord.
That was bad enough—though not terribly unexpected. Clan Vengeance was named for good reason, and everyone expected them to try something after the death of the last lord. Murdering the emperor’s son was exactly the way they behaved.
But that hadn’t been it. An angry missive from Equestria had arrived the day before, informing the Emperor that not all official presence of Accipian citizens in Equestria had ended.
Unbeknownst to all of them, house Vengeance had somehow managed to weave itself a contract with the exiles of house Endurance, and now had a presence in their land.
It was just Gina’s luck that she would be the bird to deal with it.
Emperor Gaius appointed her richly for the trip, with one of the fastest sloops and a half-dozen of his own personal guard. Gina had her own guards of course, and every one of her staff insisted on going. Even Isabel.
“You need an edge,” the unicorn argued, a few hours before they were due to leave. “The Vengeance birds will find a way to knife you over this… or maybe the emperor through you. But they won’t have a unicorn on their side.”
“Isabel…” It was painful to speak about such matters to one of the slaves that had become her friends. Any reminder of the gulf that separated them was unpleasant, and so she brought it up as little as possible. “Isabel, there are laws. Equestrians are… unhappy with the way we do things. We are certain to be searched by the ponies. What will they do when they find you aboard?” Do you think so little of my house that you would want to escape it?
But there was no guile in the unicorn, at least none that she could see. Gina trusted this pony with her life. “I don’t care about their laws! They demand I’m thrown out of your house because of words. Because I am paid less. More likely they’re jealous of my skills and want to force me to work for them!” She stomped one hoof, shaking her head dismissively. A thin silver chain clinked lightly as she did so. “I won’t let them take me away. If I have to lie and say that I work for you instead, it will only be a small lie. Ponies love to believe little lies.”
The truth was, Gina agreed with the need. Vengeance was a determinedly prideful house, perhaps the most prideful house that survived into present day. They would never rely on the talents of other races for anything they couldn’t do themselves. It would seem like a position of weakness to them. That would make them easy targets.
“I can’t wait,” she said. “Even if I would rather hire a pony wizard for the trip… they wouldn’t be as good as you are, and I couldn’t trust them. We’ll have to do it.”
“Your trust isn’t misplaced,” Isabel said. “You’ll see. When we get to that exile city, you’ll be glad you brought me.”
Gina had never commanded an entire ship before. Well—technically the ship’s captain was one of the emperor’s guards. But he answered to her in anything other than war. It was a diplomatic mission, in a way.
The ponies were furious about some esoterica in the treaty—Gina wasn’t much for that kind of politics. But simple instructions were easier. The ponies wanted Accipians out of Equestria until the griffons did something, and she was the one who had to make it happen.
She carried more than just her guards. Her writ of authority from the emperor was the most strongly-worded document she’d ever carried. The sanctions Vengeance would be subjected to if her instructions were not obeyed were incredibly severe.
Some part of her hoped she wasn’t obeyed. Even if that was likely to hurt her career, it would hurt Lord Santiago more. That bird more than deserved it.
They crossed the northern border just after dawn, sailing rather than using one of the chemical engines. Sails were at the mercy of the wind and weather, but they also didn’t fill the sky with noise and a trail of black smoke that was visible for hundreds of miles. Technically the ponies didn’t want any griffons in their territory, so it was best not to make a show of things. If they needed the speed, they could always switch them on, but sometimes it was good to ride a ship with both, just in case.
Emperor Gaius did not want this mission to become a contest of wills between the ponies as well as the great houses. Let them appear timid in at least that respect.
“It’s so green,” Isabel said from beside her, watching from the skydeck. “I thought the desert must continue forever. I guess their whole world doesn’t look like New Scythia.”
“It gets greener the further you go,” she said, watching the sky more than the ground. Another airship had joined them a few miles back, and was slowly gaining. It had no sails but made no smoke, so there was no doubt over whose ship it was. At least they hadn’t started blasting magic at the Lapwing. “Just wait until you see Griffonstone. It looks more like Scythia—mountains and hills and forests. Not like where they banished us.”
“They’re so spread out. All those little villages… how do you think they stay in contact with the empire?”
“I don’t think they do,” Gina muttered. She smiled slightly as she said it. “Accipio has something like these too. The nobility has lesser lords under them who have freeman or slaves who work the land. The only part of the empire that matters to them is the will of the noble they answer to, and maybe the commands of their clan lord. He’s the emperor to them, as much as they’ll ever know.”
Isabel shrugged. “Ponies don’t have that kind of nobility, do they? I can’t imagine why anyone would work the land out here if they weren’t forced to. What keeps their society from falling apart?”
“I have no idea,” Gina answered honestly. “I’ve only ever seen Manehattan up close. When I was a fledgeling, I… toured it. With my family.” She spoke quietly then, more respectfully. She spoke very seldom of those days, particularly in the presence of slaves. It was taboo to speak of the dead too much to someone of a lower class, lest your ancestors think they were being disrespected.
“What keeps ponies working in the cities, then? The princess’s ruthless magic?”
For the second time, Gina could only shrug. “If Manehattan was a griffon city, I would’ve expected riots. Some ponies had so much, and others had so little, yet they were all citizens. I know I would never tolerate what they suffered through.” She looked away, back towards the helm. “Captain Hookbeak, is that Equestrian ship still gaining on us?”
The wily old bird was graying in most of his feathers, and he only had one eye. But he was also one of the most skilled airmen in all of Accipio. Gina didn’t doubt he could outrun the sun itself if he had to.
Hookbeak took off, gliding down to the skydeck after only a single moment in the air. Flying while riding the deck of an airship was an exceptionally dangerous game—it was easy to forget the wind. The wind would not forget you, though. As many an unfortunate bird had discovered when they bashed their skull open against the mast, or if they were lucky, just got left behind to chase vainly after the retreating ship.
“That’s a destroyer. They’re the new additions to the Equestrian navy, only been in service since a year or so ago. They’re the Equestrian answer to our dreadnaughts, so they say. Some kinda magic weapon. Never seen one fire though.”
“Will they shoot us down? We’re flying the emperor’s flag, we’re headed straight for Griffonstone…”
“It’s not like ponies to shoot first,” Hookbeak answered, with an indifferent shrug of his wings. “I’ve never heard of them just shooting a ship down. Plus, a little sloop like the Lapwing, it’s got to be obvious at this distance we aren’t a warship.”
“Can you lose them?”
Hookbeak thought about it. He stuck out one wing, letting the wind glide over it. He glanced at the crew, then at the sail. “I could. But only because we’re headed north. The skymaps we bought are pretty clear in that fact. We’ll be going against the wind all the way back. It might be best just to let them board us and search whatever they plan on searching.”
Gina glanced to one side, at where Isabel was standing. The unicorn was not wearing her slave chain, not anymore. But they weren’t sure it would really fool anyone. “They haven’t signaled for us to stop, have they?”
Hookbeak glanced over his shoulder again, apparently searching for something. When he didn’t see it, he turned back. “Nope. No flags, no flares. I suspect they’re just trying to show us they know we’re here. Maybe they’ll follow us the whole way, making sure we’re above board.”
“We are,” she said, though it wasn’t true. “Captain, I want you to lose them. Obey them if they signal, but I bet they won’t. If they haven’t done it so far, they probably plan on showing off just how much faster they are. Let’s teach them a thing about what a bird can do with Unity’s help.”
Hookbeak saluted with one claw to his chest. “As the imperator commands.” He raised his voice. “Crew to the decks! Every bird at their posts! Raise the port sail! Prepare to—” And other sailor talk. Gina stopped listening to him.
“We should probably get below,” she said to the Unicorn. “If the Lapwing really gets going, it could knock us overboard. Not a big problem for me, but…”
“You don’t think I could learn to teleport on the way down?” Isabel asked, a sly grin on her face. She didn’t argue, though, and followed Gina below.
They watched from the windows in her quarters near the stern as the pony war ship with its magical engines fell further and further away on the horizon. It felt like the birds must be using some kind of magic themselves, though Gina couldn’t see it. It was the magic of experience, of competence. The blessing of their ancestors could overcome any obstacle, including ponies with magic.
“I knew it,” Isabel said, once the distant ship had fallen completely from view. “They couldn’t catch a crew this good. None of those ponies know what they’re doing like we do.”
“Maybe not,” Gina agreed. “But they’re going to talk to someone who does. I don’t think we’ll escape inspection both ways.”
“I can lie,” Isabel said again. “Don’t worry about it. You’re in Equestria, I’ll just say you hired me to tell you where to go. Won’t be anything to it.”
“That’s assuming that Vengeance doesn’t eat us alive,” she said. She trailed off. “Griffonstone. We’re about to see what would happen to Accipio if we let ponies have their way with us. Uh… no offence to you.”
“Don’t lump me in with them,” Isabel said, without offence. “I have a backbone, they don’t. Everything these birds lost, my ancestors gained. It is a trade I’d make again. Sometimes I wonder if the rest of Equestria might not be better off the same way. But I haven’t seen it yet, so… I’ll wait. Maybe one of these days I’ll get to see a pony city for myself, and I’ll know.”
“It’s possible,” Gina said, though she didn’t sound confident. “Things looked bad enough before Lord Santiago found a way to slip into Equestrian territory. If we can’t get his house to leave, it might be worse.”
“Imperator Gina!” called a young voice from the doorway. Captain’s Mate Gary, an adorable bird with all his limbs and all the color in his feathers. “We’re approaching Griffonstone. Captain says you should get on deck, there’s a delegation waiting for us. Looks like they’re armed.”
“Here we go.” She rose to her claws, and was unsurprised to see Isabel standing beside her. “Let’s see if we can prevent a war.”