"The slaves are en route as your ordered milord." The large helmet less guard from before reported, it had taken a few hours to get the slaves in place but with enough force and the hopelessness from what they had witnessed, it hadn't taken too much effort to get them into their cages.
"With minimum guards?" Blackthorn asked, looking out through a cracked window, one of few still whole enough to not be in shards across the floors.
"Of course." The guard captain nodded.
"And?" Blackthorn continued, looking back at his captain sensing more to come from him.
"... Patchwork is livid." The captain frowned.
"What is it now?" Blackthorn sighed as he turned back to the window, looking down at the numerous wagons loaded with corpses and being driven inside the depths of the castle.
"His...menagerie got damaged and the dragon wasn't ready and has begun to fall apart." The captain continued, standing next to his master and pointing a hoof towards the western walls where the dragon was climbing over though now lacking a wing and most of its tail.
"No matter, it held long enough to get those lackeys out of my castle, send some slaves down to his lair and see to it that all parts of the dragon are collected."
"It shall be done." The captain said, giving a deep bow and getting back to his duties somewhere else in the castle.
"Such a bother, what about the repairs?" Blackthorn sighed and turned to the others gathered in the room, his focus on a broaded shouldered earth pony clad in worn overalls and grossly misshapen with a too large right front leg, giving him a lopsided appearance and a milky white eye oozing some yellowish liquid down his face..
"Will take a few weeks milord, but nothing crucial has been damaged." The stallion answered bowing his head as low as his body could manage and avoiding his gaze out of both fear and respect .
"Good, see to the repairs and give me reports daily." Blackthorn said, letting the stallion give a final bow and shrink back behind the others, Blackthorn has liked the stallion since he was a mere stone cutter, strong, loyal and no thought of outmanouvering others only on the work at hoof.
"Baron Mortuus how much corpses did we aquire?" He snapped, turning his head to a withered and thin unicorn stallion clad in his finest clothes and holding his head high as to show everyone else in the room how he pleased his master.
"Hhhh in the thousands milord hhhhh the harvest is magnificent." Mortuus laughed taking a sniff from a fine lace scented handkerchief.
"And how many of my servants did you loose?" Blackthorn asked, giving him a murderous glare, causing the laughter to die in the barons throat and smiles break out among the gathered.
"W-well that is not important, we can reuse the skeletons an-" He stuttered out a few words and almost dropping the handkerchief as he tried to save face.
"Silence worm! do you truly think I care about the fodder? how many necromancers and death riders did I lose?" Blackthorn growled, looking at the baron with disgust.
"Well....seven necromancers and 33 death riders." He swallowed and mumbled out glancing around at the others trying to not smile at their lord putting the baron over the fire.
"And the worthless information gatherer that now feed the soil." Blackthorn spat getting his face mere centimetres from the barons face.
"The one you appointed."
"But you may count yourself lucky today baron, the whole ordeal was enough of a success that I will not even punish you." he continued giving him a smile like one wouldgive to a condemned equine awaiting the gallows, turning his attention to the rafters as he heard scratching from above.
"Yes what is it?" He asked the ghoulish pony hanging from the rafters, nimbly jumping down to whisper in Blackthorns ear.
"Good, let your kin stalk them and herd the survivors towards the town as planned, only attack them enough to believe they are in danger, but do not slaughter them all let enough survive to flee and free the slaves going for the quarry." Blackthorn nodded, letting the ghoul sculk away into the darkness to gather its kin.
"Well then, the rest of you are to ensure the safety of my domain and I will not tolerate any more incompetence after today, now begone." he snorted, giving them all a harsh glare and waving a hoof for the gathered to leave.
"And you two head to the entrance and escort my sister to me when she returns." he said turning his head to the two guards standing by the door, both giving quick nods and leaving their posts.
"Now my dear pet, I think you have rested enough."
------------------------------------Meanwhile the other side of the mountain range---------------
"Blasted ghouls just die!!" Captain Iron Hoof shouted as he stomped the head in on yet another undead beast attacking their little group, they had been attacked three times now by the beasts since they had left the mountain range, wheezing out a breath as it finally lay still under him, looking around the small group seeing the others had managed to fight off their own opponents, seeing the ghouls scatter out back into the darkness, but to his horror not everyone made it unscathed.
"S-Silverstream!" He coughed, pointing a hoof at the still form of the crystal pony holding a hoof against his throat trying desperatly to stem the blood.
"No!" Silverstream shouted rushing towards him, quickly pushing her own hoof against the wound, knowing a she did it it was futile, hearing the last gurgling breaths of his life as he fell back in a heap, shaking for a moment before turning completly still in her hooves.
"Dammit..."
"Another one meets his end in this Celestia forgotten land." One of the few survivors said, as he walked over to the crystal pony and closing his eyes, sighing as he put a hoof on silverstreams shoulder, their group of six and a half reduced to only the large stallion captain the lieutenant silverstream and the stallion with the horrible wound over his muzzle called Blue Bell.
"We must move before they come back." iron hoof said giving the poor soul a silent minute, nodding to the only other survivor Blue Bell as they begun their pitifull trek towards whatever safety they could find in this hellish landscape.
------------------------------------ Outside Twilights room high up in one of the towers--------------------------------
"So how has my little guest been?" Blackthorn asked the guards as he reached the door barely giving them even a glance.
"Talkative since she arrived to her room." One of the guards said as he saluted.
"I take it she liked her little gift." Blackthorn smiled, turning his head slightly towards the guard.
"Yes my lord, the food was brought it a few minutes ago and the servants took some liberty in adding gemstones with the food." the other guard said giving a salute of his own.
"No soulstones I hope." Blackthorn said narrowing his eyes at the guard who just spoke, noticably younger than the other one.
"Of course not, if any servants were carrying soulstones they would be dead, they brought only shards and broken ones." The other guard said trying his best to divert any possible punishment to occur as the younger guard swallowed loudly trying to keep his composure.
"Good." He grinned as he stepped inside seeing his little pet sitting on the bed with the leftovers from the dinner spread out over several metal plates, tightly holding a small purple dragon closely to her chest and holding a cracked gem to its mouth.
"Hello Sparkle, enjoying your gift?"
"No p-please I swear I be good, don't take him away again please!" She immediately begun to beg, holding Spike even closer and trying to shield him from Blackthorn with her body.
"My my how you have changed since our little dinner." He said, throwing his head back and releasing a loud cackle.
"But no my dear, you can keep your little pet for now, but disrespect me or annoy me again I will do more than remove his flames." He said pointing a hoof towards the little drake.
"S-so I can stay with Twilight from now on? instead of that creep doctor Patchwork?" Spike asked, giving Blackthorn a hopefull half smile.
"Yes, partly because of the damage caused during the attack." Blackthorn answered with a frown.
"But I also came to tell you about some survivors from the attack, they are currently herding them towards the slave pens near the town of Greywall not too far from here."
"Why are you telling us this?" Twilight asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Because I enjoy it immensly." Blackthorn grinned, causing Spike to nestle deeper into Twilights embrace.
"That and you are growing on me Sparkle, knowing that you could never plot against me like those pathetic worms sneaking around my castle, it is impossible to know which are loyal to me other than my captain and my dear builder."
"Uhm Twilight is not plotting against you?" Spike asked, confused at what he was hearing.
"You know what I mean lizard, I know where I have her and I know who she is loyal to." Blackthorn spat, walking over to a nearby window and dragging the tip of his hoof on the windowsill, frowning as he scraped off a thin layer of dust, sighing as he turned back towards the two with a smile.
"Anyway I came to personally tell you both that tomorrow I will take both of you with me to the town of Black Gulch, a fine little town apparently lacking in discipline and loyalty."
"I really don't like the sound of that." Twilight mumbled, getting a quick whisper from her assistant.
"Me neither."
"You will not like the act either." Blackthorn said, as he walked towards the door giving them both a last glance as he walked out.