//------------------------------// // 6: Miscalculation // Story: Imbalanced: Legacy of Light // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// Zach was shaking. Nights were always cold in Zebrica, especially when one travelled the countryside, and being in the middle of a huge army wasn’t helping. He’d just left the mess hall- tent, where he’d had some dry, long-lasting rations and water, and soon it would be his time to patrol the encampment. He didn’t want to be in the marauding army. To be frank, aside from the few fanatics following lord Stern from the beginning, nopony did. However, the stubborn ones only served as a reminder that the smart ones would either serve, or join them on the torture or rape racks before getting impaled on a spear and their death recorded for everyone to see. Considering how long the army had been travelling, the ones killed outright were likely in luck. As he put his leather armor on back inside his tent, he tried not to think about the noises coming from the adjacent ones. Still, the crying of beaten and raped stallions and mares was too hard to ignore, and Zach knew there was no amount of soap and water in this world to wash his hooves anymore. The army had yet another ‘glorious’ victory behind them, this time razing the final South Zebrican Republic border fortress, and ending an entire nation. Who hadn’t fled north, was in the army, either as a soldier or slave, or in the work camps providing logistics support, or dead. Zach didn’t understand what the army was for at all. If warlord Stern wanted to conquer Zebrica like many wannabe dictators before him, then what was the point of leaving nothing to rule? Cities ruined, infrastructure serving only for the military, impaled corpses lining the roads, and video recordings of every disgusting deed committed… it had to be a message to the world. Zach was a city zebra, and knew about politics from the news. The rest of the world had to be watching, and sooner or later it would act. Would it, really? Was one ruined nation not enough to send help? Would it take the sacrifice of an entire continent to make others take steps? Or would the politics of appeasement be the beacon of hope until it was too late? What Zach did understand were the motivations of others within the army. Some simply wanted riches, and Stern paid well from all the loot. Zebrica was full of natural resources - gold, gems, precious wood, gasses, everything. Some soldiers were simply bloodthirsty thugs. Once again, majority of those had followed Stern from the beginning. Most, however, simply wanted to survive, just like Zach. Or… like Zach had wanted few days ago before witnessing the last siege. Now he wasn't so sure anymore. Some broken ones wanted to cause more and more carnage just for revenge on those who hadn’t helped them when they were in the army’s path. And a lot simply wanted to die but weren't allowed to, mostly the slaves. How did it even come to that? How did a bandit group manage to conquer city after city, strike fear into the hearts of everypony, eventually topple a nation, and soon about to march on another one? The world didn't know. Zach and those who had been in the army since the beginning knew, but there were no successful deserters to get the information out. Zach’s patrol began. He now had four hours during which nopony would question where he was going unless he strode straight up into the center of the camp where Stern and his closest resided. Magic was the answer. Zebras were excellent chemists and engineers, not to mention lovers and warriors, ehm… but they couldn’t use magic. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, because it was difficult for wizards to deal with machine gun fire, but the magic Stern had behind him was… nothing short of miracles. Horrifying, but nonetheless miraculous. In the past months, Zach had seen meteors fall from the sky, land itself rise up and swallow their enemies, magma burst from the ground, and tornadoes form from nothing. All of that had been the work of a single unicorn living in a tent at the edge of the whole encampment which meant outside of the well-protected center of the army. Presumably because not even Stern could handle the dark and bloody rituals needed to control that crazy amount of power. Zach had heard about slaves sacrificed to dark gods, their bodies taken into the eldritch depths, and souls devoured by the wizard himself. Zach’s target. He didn’t know the whole extent of the unicorn’s power, but everypony could be taken by surprise, and no one was immortal. The army encampment was mostly lawless, the only rule of ‘no deserters’ enforced by cutie mark magic, but killing fellow soldiers was frowned upon in the most painful way possible. That’s why nopony, as per Zach’s plan, cared about him walking at a casual patrolling pace towards the wizard’s tent. It still took close to an hour due to the sheer size of the army. He didn’t dare try stealing a vehicle and ramming it into the tent. First, the commotion would have probably woken the wizard up, and second, this was personal. The tent of the most dangerous member of the army was simple, white like every other, only large enough for three or four zebras. This zebra army didn’t care much about camouflage, but survival in the sun was crucial. In front of the tent flaps, Zach hesitated. What if the unicorn was still awake? What if he didn’t need to sleep at all? He wouldn’t get a second chance, not with the unicorn’s reputation. After all, Zach had heard that the orders to kill everyone not willing to work in the camps or join the army came not from Stern himself, but from the pony. Taking a deep breath, he peeked inside, illuminating the darkness with his electric lantern. Zach had to admit to being disappointed in a way. There was only a real bed without a blanket in the back with the wizard sleeping in it, a small dresser with a grey, short robe draped over it, and no weapons in sight. On a rug by the tent’s side sat a rather pretty and well-endowed zebra mare, quietly watching Zach. In contrast to those put on the racks spread throughout the camp for free use, she didn’t look hurt or emaciated. In fact, she could have passed for a soldier herself if it wasn’t for the shackles binding each pair of her legs together. The unicorn probably didn’t want his personal slave to be bony or dirty. He entered as quietly as he could, putting his foreleg to his lips. The mare only stared, not attempting to move or speak. Zach put the lantern down, and gripped his dagger with his teeth. Just a few more steps and… ...he rammed the blade into the unicorn’s neck, grabbed his head and torso, and started slicing. Blood ran into his nose and mouth, and he had to focus on both cutting and not throwing up. It was different to kill someone on the battlefield than like this, and the taste of his blood when he’d been punched with a shield before was incomparable to having somepony else’s blood in his muzzle. The unicorn struggled only a little before Zach was done. The zebra wiped his face, and spat out the dagger. He gave the slave mare a quick victorious smile… ...then he froze. She wasn’t looking at him, but past him. Come on! I nearly cut your head off. The tent lit up, allowing Zach to see all the details. He could see the unicorn’s slit throat knit together, his windpipe regenerate in front of the soldier’s eyes, and the blood covering the whole bed seep back into the body. For the first time, he could see the infamous sorcerer of the marauding army clearly and up close. The unicorn’s coat was dark blue with a complimenting lighter blue mane. What stood out were his bubblegum pink eyes, bright as if glowing from the inside. He was rather fit, but with hips that would look better on a mare than a stallion. Come to think of it, he did look a little on the softer side. That appearance of weakness, however, disappeared when  Zach focused on his face. The unicorn might physically look thirty-five, but his stare betrayed far more experience than one could gain in a single lifetime. He sighed. “Nothing short of tactical spell strike will harm me or stop this army, Zach, and the pony cowards won’t use those under international treaties. They will debate, try to negotiate, and keep failing until it’s too late to fight,” he said in a rather pleasant but tired voice, “Alright, you know the drill.” “Wha-?” Zach’s knees buckled, dropping him on the floor. Through hazy vision he saw the slave mare holding a club, her shackles undone, “Why…?” he could only whisper. He watched her sit back down and chain herself up again. “Master?” she said simply. “We can’t have him talking about me, but it would be a waste to simply kill him. Look away.” The mare turned her head as Zach felt pressure on his tongue, and then he almost choked from the pain. When the unicorn telekinetically pulled Zach up by his mane, allowing him to throw up all the fresh blood, the zebra stared in disbelief at his ripped out tongue hovering in front of him. Zach’s gagging and groaning finally must have drawn attention from the outside, and another zebra soldier peeked inside the tent. “Is everything o...k…?” “Assassin,” said the pony, “Take him to the northern edge of the camp and crucify him. Let’s see how he enjoys baking in the sun tomorrow. I’m sure somepony will take a video of him and bring it to our enemies,” then he walked over to the suddenly trembling soldier, and whispered something that Zach couldn’t hear. The soldier nodded, clearly puzzled, “Oh, one final thing,” the unicorn reached for Zach’s flank where his cutie mark of a zebra symbol for ‘tenacity’ was overlaid with the mark of a chain like every other slave or soldier. His butt felt hot at the unicorn’s touch, and then the chain mark disappeared. Now him being out of the camp wouldn’t trigger any magical alarms. The new soldier didn’t question anything, knowing that his curiosity would likely end up with Zach not being the only one slowly going insane from the heat over the next few days. After tying Zach up, the soldier slung him over his back, and enlisted the help of two other patrols he met on the way. Possibly fortunately for Zach, the army was stocked with torture supplies, and the soldiers didn’t have to resort to impaling him due to the lack of crosses. On the other hoof, a very painful death over the course of an hour or two was now replaced by a far more painful death spanning days. He didn’t try to beg the soldiers for mercy, he knew they wouldn’t dare let him go out of fear for their own lives. Not to mention that the lack of tongue would make it rather difficult anyway. One more soldier arrived just as Zach was hanging spread-eagle with his legs tied to the wood. At least they hadn’t been ordered to nail him to the cross, only tie him up. “Just for you, traitor boy,” the soldier dropped a saddlebag under the cross, pulled out a bottle of water from it, and put it next to the bag, “So that you can hang there with water juuuust outside your reach,” the zebra chuckled. With nothing more to do, the soldiers left Zach hanging there. It was too late at night for soldiers to keep using their slaves, and everything was pleasantly quiet for a while. Zach felt dry blood in his throat, and knew he had to do something before dawn. There was no time to rest. He tried to pull on the ropes binding him, and pain flashed through his head from the effort. However, one of the bindings felt... loose. It must have taken hours, and Zach had to stop whenever he saw a patrol’s glowing lantern approach, but eventually he dropped down from the cross, trying not to throw up. He grabbed the taunting saddlebag and the water… ...and stopped. There was no need to run like a panicking animal, right? The news about him being a traitor couldn’t have spread, especially if the wizard had his toy mare to play with. No, he was smart, and he’d made the unicorn share his only worry… whatever a tactical spell strike was. This information had to get out, the description of the unicorn had to get out. Maybe somepony would know who the unicorn was and could find countermeasures to his overwhelming power. Carefully trotting and avoiding the patrols, Zach made his way back into the camp and his own tent, grabbed a robe, spare weapons, and all the supplies he could carry. He knew he wouldn’t get any sleep, so he needed food and drink. In the end, he was loaded like a mule, and ready for his way north. He could move faster than the army, and he wouldn’t get caught for desertion due to the wizard’s carelessness. As ready as he could ever be, he set out on his way north. Dawn was coming, and the army would be on its way soon. He knew the next target city, and he had to warn whomever he could.