“Something has to be done.”
It was now late at night, on the third day after Morn Dread’s takeover of Canterlot, and Sunlight Radiance and Moon Tide were meeting in the former’s room.
“Why? Tis not like he is ousting you.” Moon Tide poured them a cup of tea each. “Look, he has yet to bend our wills like he has most of the castle.”
“He cannot bend our wills, not if the sirens’ song is anything to go by. What I mean is his blatant disregard of our entire society’s protocols. He ignored a direct order from me. From me!” Sunlight snarled. “I am the ultimate authority in this land, and he dares to butt heads with me?”
“Well, it was your plan to put him on the throne instead of having a child yourself. So I do not see any problem with that, besides him ignoring you.”
“The whole point of putting him on the throne,” Sunlight said impatiently. “Was to have a puppet ruler that you and I could control with impunity, allowing us to reign supreme in this land. Well guess what? The puppet went and cut his own strings. He’s useless to us now.”
At that, Moon Tide was silent. She took a sniff in the air, then leaned back in her seat. The queen spoke with some sense of truth. If Morn would not listen to them, then what was the point of having him on the throne? At least with Dawn Saber, they sort of had a hand in telling him how to run the kingdom.
“Bah! So much for those child-staying potions I’ve been drinking almost every night. It would have been better if I’d killed Dawn Saber myself and ruled as queen, instead of this debacle we’re stuck dealing with.”
“Wh-what if I talk to him?” the mage reasoned. “He is my son. He loves me as much as I do him. I am sure he will still be reasonable with me.”
“Still, he has done something I cannot forgive.” Sunlight pounded her fists together. “No one talks to me like that. Not even my own nephew.”
“No. No, you will not kill him, sister.” Moon Tide was quick to her feet. “He is my son. My son. I love him.”
Sunlight looked at Moon Tide through narrowed eyes. Her long, pink tongue slipped from her mouth and licked her lips. It was a gesture that Moon Tide knew well; she was thinking about ordering an execution on someone.
“I can talk to him. He cares for me, sister. He will not cast me aside.”
“I cannot let this disrespect for royalty pass. Not even for him.” Sunlight’s eyes burned a bright green. “I want him dead, Thyra.”
Moon Tide’s legs threatened to give way under her as her mind whirled, trying to think of what she could do. This was her son her sister was talking about. Her one and only son. The son she so dearly loved. There was just no way she could kill him, but the queen’s word was law. Whatever she said had to be obeyed. It was in their blood. Or it had been, up until something had broken Sunlight’s control over Morn Dread.
Moon Tide sniffed and wiped at her eyes, her voice strained. “I… I will… see to it…”
“Just what I wanted to hear.” Sunlight smirked and sat back down, twirling a glass in her hand. “You’re my executioner. Prove yourself worthy of the name.”
“But...” Moon Tide croaked quickly. “He’s too strong... and too canny for me to just walk up to him and kill him...” She wrung her hands together. “It would not do to be killed by him and his new sword. I will have to take my time with this.”
Sunlight blinked heavily, then nodded. “Then take all the time you need. All I care about is the final result.”
Nodding as well, the mage bowed and then left the room, ashamed to show her sadness before her sister. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but as she had haggled, she will have time to figure this out. Perhaps Morn did not need to die.
Emerald Edge awoke as a faint scraping sound made itself known in her ears. Spitting a straw of hay from her mouth, she pushed up to her side and looked around for the source.
Just then, she spotted a stone from the floor wobbling slightly. Unsure if her eyes were playing tricks on her or not, Emerald rubbed at them before looking again, but this time, it had shifted out of the floor, now positioned on top of another, revealing a small hole in the floor, where a pair of blue eyes stared back at her.
“I told you I would be back.” Spectrum waved at her, then pushed another stone out of its place.
“You said soon.” Emerald began to help, widening the hole. “How did you get here?”
“When the plunderseed vine grew beneath Canterlot, it created tunnels, some of them still existing. There just happens to be many under the dungeons, seeing as they started from here.
“It did take us some time to locate this one and find our way to your cell. But that Nightfall Gleam is a wonder with maps and things. Now come on, let’s get you out of here.”
“Nightfall’s in on this too?” Emerald exclaimed.
“Shhh!” Spectrum hissed. “Anyway, Posey’s on lookout. This tunnel surfaces near the gardens. There are guards patrolling there, but Posey has it covered. She’ll hoot once like an owl if it’s all clear, and three times if it’s not. Now come on! We need you.”
Emerald nodded and after clearing away a few more stones, the hole was large enough for her to squeeze through. She dropped down into a narrow dirt tunnel. Spectrum was holding a lantern and she led the way back down the passage.
“So you and Nightfall organized this?” Emerald asked as they crept along.
“Psh, hardly. Your friends in the Canterlot guard told us you have been imprisoned. We heard there were some strange things going on in the castle, but it wasn’t until Captain Jade came for us that we found out that Sir Morn had pretty much taken over the kingdom.”
“What, Sir Hors wasn’t acting any different?”
“I was away getting him a new saddle from Trottingham at the time with Guard Streak,” Spectrum said as she ducked under a rock sticking down from the ceiling of the tunnel. “I wasn’t even allowed back into the castle, so I went to Jewel Pin’s place to stay while I waited for things to sort themselves out. She’s the one who wrote you the letter,” Spectrum added.
The two of them crept along the tunnel. It must have passed under large sections of the castle, as here and there Emerald and Spectrum could hear footfalls and muffled speech.
“We should almost be at the gardens now. I’m going to put out the lantern. Let’s give ourselves some time for our night vision to clear up.”
Spectrum blew out the candle and plunged them into darkness. For a while, all Emerald could hear was the sound of both of them breathing, but being a spymaster, she adjusted quickly to the dark. Once they could see each other, Emerald and Spectrum tiptoed the last few steps. There was a bunch of foliage covering the exit, and Spectrum pushed the leaves and branches aside to look out. It was a cloudy night with almost no moon, so they would have the advantage in the dark; guards always carried torches and lanterns with them which would ruin their night vision.
There was the sound of an owl hooting. Not the laughter-sounding hooting that the Canterlot owls were renowned for, but more of a gentle Hoo-ooh!
“That’s Posey,” Spectrum whispered. “Follow me, we’ve mapped out a path that has the fewest guards.”
Emerald nodded. Spectrum had come a long way since she knew her. She had learned much in the last five years.
The two emerged from the hole, no guards in sight. Spectrum kept low and moved from cover to cover, using the large bushes and trees in the garden to her advantage. Emerald followed suit, crouching lower to make up for her height.
The entrance to the gardens was sentried by two guards, but Spectrum did not make for the entrance. Instead, she led Emerald to one of the walls, where ivy and flowers dominated the brickwork. Looking around in case there was anyone close by, Spectrum looked up and waved.
To Emerald’s astonishment, Posey was perched atop the wall, and was in the process of threading down a rope ladder for the two. She was dressed in dark colors that blended in perfectly with the darkness of the night.
Spectrum and Emerald clambered up the rope as quickly as they could, with Emerald feeling lighter due to the lack of her armor and weapons. She longed to be able to simply fly to the top of the wall, but without the artifacts, that was impossible.
Speaking of the artifacts…
“How much do people know about what happened in the castle, Spectrum?” Emerald asked.
“Shh!” Posey flapped her hand. “Not here. We’ll talk more when we’re back at Jewel Pin’s.”
Emerald reached the top of the wall and hopped down on the other side. Without her armor, she barely made a sound. Spectrum was soon down beside her, but Posey looked up, and remained atop the wall.
Emerald followed her line of sight, but she didn’t need to look to know that Posey was looking to Gabriel, her eyes in the sky. True enough, there he was, gliding along in the air, his head tilting around and surveying Canterlot from above.
“We are clear to the castle gate.” The archer landed down beside them and adjusted her bow. “Gabriel will let us know if any guards approach our direction, but come, let us move. The faster we get there the better.”
Emerald nodded and followed along, keeping her body low and in the shadows. There were a smattering of torches lit along the walls, but not as many as would usually be lit. Emerald wondered if the whole system of the kingdom had been upset by Morn’s takeover. Certainly the lamp-lighters seemed to be in disarray.
As they arrived at the courtyard, Emerald found it weird to see it deserted. The courtyards were usually never empty, with a guard or two by the side, or even some patrolling through it on their nightly routes. This night, only two guards stood by the drawbridge, their backs to her and the others. They were stiff and silent, like the rest that Morn had taken over with Excalibur’s magic.
Evidently they weren’t expecting someone to break out of the castle… Emerald thought.
However, these two guards were carrying torches and horns, and without any weapons, it would be hard to get past them without raising the alarm. Not that she wanted to kill these guards. They were just as much victims as she was, only they weren’t as fortunate as she was to be able to resist Excalibur’s power.
“What do we do?” Spectrum whispered. The front gate was the only way out, and Posey’s rope ladder wasn’t long enough to scale the castle walls.
Looking up the side of the wall, Posey glanced back at Emerald and Spectrum and whispered, “Do as I do.”
With a running start, Posey ran towards the wall, her footsteps unheard in the quiet night. With one powerful kick, she ran three more steps up the side of the wall before grabbing a part of the wall that was out of alignment with the rest of the stones. With her first point gripped in her hands, Posey soon began to make her way up, reaching out for a different piece of stone each time, slowly but steadily getting closer to the top of the wall.
“Do as she does?” Spectrum imitated blowing a raspberry. “Maybe you can do it, Em, but what am I going to do?”
“Well, you’re a squire, yes? Can’t you just walk out? I mean, it’s not like they can accuse you of anything. Just pretend you are under the control of Morn’s magic.”
“Oh, yes,” Spectrum’s face lit up. “See you back at Jewel Pin’s then.”
Spectrum left their hiding place and walked toward the drawbridge, her movements stiff and odd. One of the guards turned around to see where the footsteps were coming from, but went back to his usual stance once he saw it was just a squire. Emerald watched as Spectrum crossed the bridge and vanished from sight, still walking like she had a sack of coal in her pants.
Looking back at the wall, Emerald took a deep breath and did as Posey did, running to the same spot she had kicked up from. Posey was already at the top and had let down the rope ladder, but it was still a good three meters from the ground.
Finding a foothold in the form of a loose brick, Emerald began to scale the wall. It was easier than it looked; this wall had been damaged during Duchan’s attack, and while it had not been damaged enough to warrant a full scale reconstruction, it still needed the attention of skilled builders to smooth it out. Luckily, they hadn’t got around to fixing the wall and various bricks and stones stuck out for the former pegasus to hold on to.
Emerald made it up the rope ladder and grabbed ahold of it while Posey hauled her up. It surprised Emerald just how strong Posey was. This was truly a human of exceptional skill.
Once they were at the top of the battlements, Emerald looked around and down. There was a soldier in the closest turret, looking out and holding up a torch and leaning on a spear. However, he was too far away to notice the two intruders.
Posey began to wind up the rope ladder and stealthily made her way over to what looked like a wooden apple crate. Pulling the lid off, Posey took out a longer, thinner rope, and a device that looked like a large crossbow, reinforced with metal.
“It’s like one of the ballistas that the mages developed,” Posey explained. “This one was custom made by Nightfall Gleam specifically for tonight.”
Posey swiftly tied the one end of the rope around the bolt and the other end to a metal ring in the wall, then mounted the weapon onto the crenellation using a bipod. Then she fired it.
With a muted twang, the bolt streaked off into the dark, carrying the rope along with it.
There was a faint thump. Posey yanked on the rope a few times, testing its strength.
“Come on, Emerald,” Posey beckoned. “We can make it over the moat and into the city this way.”
Posey retrieved a pair of gadgets from the crate. They looked like slotted wheels with handles on the sides.
“Don’t tell me… We are going to slide down this rope?” Emerald held the device in her hands. “How will it even support our weight?”
“I’ve been told the rope is specially made. Spring Amber told me that they can take care of hiding the launcher and rope before the sun rises. Come on, Emerald. Freedom awaits.”
Reluctantly, Emerald fitted the glide onto the rope, then stepped up onto the crellenation. It was a long way down into the moat, and if the rope broke, she might be in for an unexpected swim; the splash would certainly alert the guards.
Emerald closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and stepped off into oblivion.
Moments later, she opened her eyes again, a grin spreading across her face as she zoomed down the rope, the wind rushing in her face. This was just like flying! She looked back at the castle, which was shrinking away into the darkness. She could just make out the shape of Posey, about twenty feet behind her.
It did not take long for the end of the rope to come into sight. The bolt had stabbed into the top of a tree, and there were several piles of hay gathered around the base of the tree. Emerald twisted the glide against the rope, causing friction and forcing herself to slow down. She had no intention of smashing into the tree at this speed.
Just before she hit the tree, Emerald let go and fell down the last few meters, landing in a pile of hay, which cushioned her fall nicely.
“There, we made it.” Posey helped her up and dusted her down. “Come. We are almost to Jewel Pin’s home. Young Spectrum should already be waiting for us there.”
Looking around, Emerald beheld that they had landed in the Loft District, atop a hill that was relatively close to the castle. “There, I can see Jewel Pin’s shop.”
The pink haired archer nodded and pointed forward. “Let us go. The faster we get there, the faster we will be safe from the patrols.”
Emerald and Posey encountered no resistance on the way to the fine establishment, slipping through the doors with nothing more than a creak of old wood. As soon as the doors were shut behind them, a trio of candles burst into existence as Jewel Pin, Nightfall Gleam and Spectrum Song raced forward to greet them.
“Em, Posey, you made it!” Spectrum gave the spymaster a hug. “The guards did not even stop me once! I walked right on by. I must have a talent for acting.”
“Tis good to see you safe.” Nightfall gave her a pat on the shoulder. “I am glad Posey is on our side. She got me here safely as well when I tried to leave the Mages’ Tower to find you. We should let the others know.”
Emerald looked past them, trying to peer through the darkness beyond the candlelight. “Others? Who else is here?”
“Oh, just a few more friendly faces, Lady Emerald.” Nightfall whipped around. “Everyone, come on out. The lady knight is here.”
The first to appear were Spring Amber, Crystal Flare and the other Emerald Edge, but behind them…
“Light Speckle, you are safe!” Emerald ran to her and embraced her. “You got out of the tower!”
“I was with Nightfall when Posey came to find her, my lady.” The Magus Superior hugged her back. “What Sir Morn has done, tis no good thing. I cannot stand by that.”
“What of Moon Tide? Surely she would not agree with her son’s actions as well?”
Light Speckle shook her head. “I have not seen Moon Tide since the takeover. I am afraid she might have already been… indoctrinated.”
Spectrum walked in a circle. “That is quite the big word. It means to have been read a manuscript, yes? Indoctrinated. I am a squire, after all. I do learn how to read.”
“You still have much to learn, young squire,” Nightfall chuckled. “But these are trying times. To think we would have to hide from our own kingdom. But for now, we cannot stay here. Sir Morn is bound to find us eventually. We should leave Canterlot.”
“I hate to agree with the mage, but she is right.” Other Emerald nodded. “The longer we stay, the more we risk getting indoctrinated ourselves. We should fall back and come up with a plan.”
“As the only one who seems to be immune to Excalibur’s magic, Emerald, you are our best chance of stopping the madness that has overtaken Canterlot,” Nightfall said seriously. “But we cannot stay here in the hornet’s nest while we plot to stop Morn Dread. We need to get out out of the city.”
“Woah, woah, hold on,” Emerald said, holding up her hands. “Why can’t we just stop him now? Light Speckle has the staff, I’m sure that I’m more than a match for Morn if we each have an artifact.”
Everyone looked uncomfortable at her suggestion. Light Speckle especially.
“Unfortunately… that is no longer an option.”
“What? Why?” Emerald felt her stomach begin to churn.
“Two days ago, Sir Gallophad and Sir Agramane came to the Mages’ Tower and took the staff from my apprentice. I was away gathering herbs at the time, but I was too late. They have the staff now.”
“And the shield is theirs too,” Nightfall said grimly. “Three to nothing.”
Jewel Pin cleared her throat. “I don’t suppose we could steal one?”
Spring Amber shook her head. “Too risky. Even if they can’t use the artifacts to their full potential, one shot is all it will take to kill you, or worse, indoctrinate you. And we cannot even risk one of us falling to their mind control; we would give away everyone else.”
Everyone was silent, unsure of any other alternatives. Every other way seemed to lead to failure and Emerald didn’t like that. With a chance of failure, these plans were not worth trying, at least not now.
“There is… one thing.” Everyone looked at Light Speckle.
“When I was going through Clover’s journal last month, I uncovered something that could help us now.”
“Well, what is it?” Jewel Pin asked anxiously.
“Apparently, before Lady Emerald’s arrival, she was looking into these artifacts and was using the staff to see if she could find more.”
“And did she?” Spectrum looked as though she was torn between excitement and skepticism.
“She didn’t manage to get an exact location,” Light Speckle said, taking out the journal and opening it to a page that had a map on it. “But there is strong evidence from the staff’s scrying that there is an artifact in the lands beyond the mountains. In Saddle Arabia.”