Prey and a Lamb

by Lambs Prey

49.3 Just a Falling Leaf in a Falling Forest

Gloom immediately zeroed in on where Prey was pointing. "A cave."

He pronounced the words like he meant to commit murder inside that cave if he was lucky enough to find the warlock hiding in there.

"I think I see it too" Scenic whispered, squinting, however Gloom had already started forwards, making straight for the rough stone entrance.

"Wait, it might be trapped." Prey hissed, darting in front of Gloom.

"If that is indeed the warlock's lair, they're not going to trap their own dwelling." Gloom said, not slowing his stride.

"That doesn't mean it can't still be a trap."

Gloom simply levelled his spear and sped up.

The stone hole in the basin wall was indeed a naturally formed cave, the entrance roughly triangular. It was a lot deeper than it looked from outside, because it sloped steeply down for about ten hooves before levelling out under the roof's overhang. That was as far as Prey could see down into the blackness.

It was also immediately obvious that this was indeed the warlock's home of sorts. A bucket of water sat just inside the cave entrance, along with a twig broom. It was so out of place, so ordinary and not twisted and vile like everything else they'd seen from the warlock. But even practitioners of the foulest black magic needed to sweep the floor, Prey knew from suffering under Snake's hoof.

At the roughly triangular tunnels peak, the roof was high enough that Gloom wouldn't need to duck. Gloom didn't pause. With his spear pointed straight ahead, he strode down into the cave's depths before Prey could stop him.

Prey jumped back from the entrance, cringing and waiting for a trap to go off. Scenic looked just as terrified that Prey's worries would come to pass, or perhaps it was just because of the blackness down there, but a few seconds later, when nothing happened, Prey peeked his head back into the cave.

Whether Gloom had been confident or foolhardy in his assumption, he seemed to have been correct. The warlock had indeed not boobytrapped their own shelter. Gloom had stopped at the bottom of the deeply shadowed incline, and Prey couldn't see what he was doing down there.

Prey didn't dare call out after the thestral, but he wasn't going down there after Gloom like this.

A scrape, a clank, a click, and then white light blossomed brilliantly in the darkness below. Gloom held up a crude, homemade lantern, the twine handle looped over his wing claw.

Again, it stood to reason. The warlock had to be able to see in his own lair after all, so of course they would have a lantern set by ready. However, Prey took note of something else. The lantern was one of those containing a magically charged crystal, not a candle or oil. That was bad. It increased the chances of this warlock being a unicorn.

Gloom turned his head to look back up at them, and gestured that it was safe to descend. Cautiously, Prey stepped into the cool air of the cave's mouth and started down the uneven slope. The temperature instantly dropped, and even under his wool his skin prickled with a shiver. Prey looked back to see Scenic hadn't moved. He was teetering on the edge of the cave's edge, his face all screwed up.

'-back into the dark again. No, no. No I can't do this. I can't do this-'

'Oh. So that's going to be one of the lingering scars from last night it seems.' Prey thought.

"I, sir I... I could guard the entrance here. I, I'm not, I'm sorry sir I can't-"

Gloom blinked, then shook his head, "It's okay Scenic. I get it, it's okay. Stay here and alert us if the kindersnatches come back. We'll be trapped in here if that happens."

'-underground in a narrow space and without a weapon, there isn't much Scenic could do to help anyway-', Gloom thought.

Scenic ducked his head in shame, "I-Yes sir. I'll guard here. I'm sorry sir." He almost whispered.

Gloom glanced down to see Prey, who was hugging the edge of the cold stone tunnel. Prey looked back at him warily, then flicked his eyes ahead down the rough passage way.

Gloom's lips twitched up into a humourless smile, as he lifted the pilfered lantern higher with one wing and gripped his spear tightly with the other, "Let's go see what treasures we can find, how about it?" He asked with faux brightness.

Prey stuck close behind Gloom as the two of them ventured into the warlock's lair, but not too close.

This wasn't a cave formed by water. It looked more like one which'd come into being by a random shift of the earth hundreds of years ago. Or perhaps as little as one year. Prey didn't know how to judge. Maybe Gloom did? His clan lived in caves.

They didn't have to go far in. After half a dozen yards, the rough tunnel bent sharply to the right, and from around it, came a soft red glow. It didn't flicker like firelight would've done. They stopped and listened. There was no sound from around the corner, no breath of life that Prey could hear. No warmth from whatever was casting the red light either, the air was still chillingly cold.

When Gloom cautiously rounded the corner, spear point first, they found, in the stark shadows cast before them, the warlock's workshop.

It was almost everything you could've feared to find, but worse.

Not because the grisly body parts, both animal and equine, were so much worse to see in person. Not because of the twisted witch lights that lit up and splashed pale red light across the walls when they entered. Not because of the dark vats blasted into the stone floor filled with writhing wicker worms and water. Or because of the saws, the knives, the dried blood circles, or the unidentifiable spiked tools and items of evil magic permeating wrongness.

It was more horror, more evil, more memories to fuel his nightmares with.

Once you'd already seen so much, one might think there was no horror left that could phase you. They would be wrong. Pain is pain, suffering is suffering, and evil is evil. Each instance was different, each time renewed your horrified disgust afresh. Muted or not, suppressed or faced head on, each and every horror was another crack in your soul.

But those things weren't what made the warlock's lair so much worse. What made it so was the little bouquets of dried flowers and sweet smelling herbs hung about to mask the rotting smell. The freshly brought in and raked over dirt under a rickety table with remnants of blood still on it. A mat of rushes placed on the floor to wipe your hooves clean on before you left.

Little things, small details that made it all the worse because it showed the warlock wasn't just some sick, sadistic, monster who loved murder.

No, it proved they were a person who wasn't fond of blood and gore, but was carrying on with their black magic practices anyway.

That made it worse, because they knew what they were doing was evil.

'Just like Snake,' Prey thought turning his head away from the red, witch light illuminated work space, 'Just like me.'

Turning away left him looking at Gloom's face. Prey looked away from that too.

'-all of this, came from the mind of a pony? Somepony could actually think this? It's, it's...-'

Gloom's spear suddenly lashed out, sweeping bowls, jars, tools and unidentified paraphernalia off the table and shelves to clatter on the cave floor.

'-it's so wrong!-'

Prey jumped, the noise incredibly loud in the confined red lit space, but he didn't say a word. He stepped away from the panting Gloom and waited for the thestral to work his way through his anger. Gloom would not listen to any warning not to touch the unknown substances, he needed to work through his sickened anger. Prey examined warlock's workshop instead, peering into all the dark corners.

Something set into its own private little alcove on the back wall caught Prey's eye. With extreme caution, Prey took a step closer so he could see into the shadowed pocket of stone.

It took him a second to realise what the dark, rectangular object he saw in there was; a book.

Gathering himself, Gloom took as much of a calming breath as he could manage, and lifted up the lantern again.

'-little rat eyes in the dark, jaw bones on the dirtNo! Need to focus. Anger and breakdown later, investigation now-'

They were down here for a reason, to find and kill the warlock. The warlock wasn't here, but perhaps there was some clue as to their location, or at least the new location of the captured townsfolk. Gloom forced himself to look around and study the grisly workstation, no matter how sick to the stomach it made him.

The two vats dug into the stone floor by some unknown means drew Gloom closer. He slowly lent over, wings outspread for balance. The much brighter and purer white lantern light crystallised the details of the wicker worm like things squirming beneath the water's surface.

It revealed that the things weren't so much worms, as stick insects, but Gloom didn't have to put two and two together to know what he was actually looking at. Infantile kindersnatch seeds.

The sight of the squirming mess was enough to disgust and horrify anyone, even before knowing what those things did once introduced into a helpless victim.

For a moment, Gloom had a terrible vision of the things crawling out of the vats and trying to latch onto him and Prey, but no, if the things could climb out, they would've done so by now. The vats didn't even have a lid of any sort covering them after all.

'-just don't fall in-', Gloom thought, swallowing thickly.

What were kindersnatches really? Where did these things even come from? Gloom had no idea such parasites could even exist. There was no way these could be natural, they belonged solely in the realm of horror stories.

How did the warlock control them? Where had he gotten them? Gloom looked around the workspace of evil, and had no trouble in believing the kindersnatches had actually been made by this warlock.

'-they kill and torture. Murder and defile. They made the scarecrows. Why wouldn't they stoop to creating monsters to enslave ponies with?-'

These kindersnatch seeds? They were dead. Gloom was going to destroy them all. Before he left this cave, each and every one of those vile squirming things would be dead. They would never claim another innocent.

Gloom cast about the cave, looking for something to do it with. How? How to destroy them? Was there some sort of poison in here that would work? Just dump all the foul concoctions and objects he could find into the vats and hope the resulting reaction blew up?

'-good enough-', Gloom thought angrily, and began sweeping all the items he'd knocked onto the floor towards the vats, kicking the bowls and jars into the water with plops and splashes.

Within moments, the waters turned mixed shades of blacks and greens as some of the objects sank, and others floated. Gloom began kicking and sweeping everything else he could find in the workshop into the vats in a frenzy.

*Splash Splash* *Plop Plop*.

Gloom tore down one of the witch lights and threw it in. It continued to glow, a dull red light somewhere at the bottom of the vat. No good. Gloom grabbed a twisted branch with dried mushrooms and tufts of blackened animal hide clinging to it and hurled it in next.

'-die! Those things have to die!-'

Gloom didn't stop there. He started striking out at everything in the cave, kicking down home made shelves, breaking wooden shelves and makeshift tables, crushing bowls and jugs under his horseshoes.

The only section Gloom couldn't bring himself to smash was the table in the corner with the half a nanny goat's withered body preserved in dirtied strips of cloth. Gloom couldn't make himself do that, but he rampaged through the rest of the warlock's laboratory until finally, he stood panting in the middle of the wreck, the remaining witch lights casting jagged shadows formed by broken objects in deep red.

'-I...I lost myself there-', Gloom realised. Suddenly all he wanted was to get out of here as soon as possible.

Gloom blinked, and slowly turned his head to the side to look at the back of the cave.

Prey had the lantern beside him. At his hooves lay an open, ragged book. The pages were curling, brown with age and stained nastily. Prey was methodically turning the pages, crazy looking blotchy script, and badly drawn diagrams were briefly seen before Prey flipped to another page.

Old stories of possessed tomes of ancient dark magic flashed through Gloom's head.

"Prey no!" He shouted, leaping forwards to either kick the book aside or drag Prey away.

"Whoa! Stop." Prey shouted.

"That's evil black magic. Don't you know anything?! That stuff can possess you!"

"I'm not possessed. It's not an enchanted tome, it's just a book with dark magic written down in it." Prey said.

"That's completely reckless. You had no way of knowing that."

"Well I'm fine. Nothing happened. I was just-"

"Wait, you trying to learn black magic?!" Gloom gaped.

"Of course not," Prey snapped, pointing at the book, "I was looking to see if there was anything about what the warlock's plans might be, or where they might've taken the captured people from Alfalfa Dale."

For a second Gloom was about to say; '-even reading an obviously dark magic text is illegal-', but after everything else, was he even really concerned about that?

"Well did you find anything to make it worth it?" Gloom asked instead.

Prey turned the book around and held it up instead of answering. Gloom hesitated because despite knowing on every level that this should be the least of his concerns, the book was still black magic, before getting a hold of himself and peering at the page.

"Oh," Gloom said, staring at the blotchy chicken scratchings, "What language is that?"

Prey shrugged minutely and let the battered book carelessly fall, "Whatever it is, it's not Equish."

"Horseapples," Gloom hissed, suddenly back to being furiously angry, "There's nothing here. Nothing! How are we supposed to catch this warlock now?"

Prey was going to suggest they could just trap the cave's entrance and leave, since the warlock would be returning here at some point, and it would be as good a chance to kill him or her as any, but just then Scenic's voice came echoing down the tunnel.

"Gloom sir! Sargent, Prey!"

Scenic's call might've been muffled by stone but it did not have far to travel, and it spurred Gloom and Prey into immediate action with its urgency.

"BackUpTheTunnelNow." Gloom ordered in one breath, grabbing up the lantern and turning to dash out.

Prey paused for just one second.

He grabbed the warlock's book, and tossed it underhoof through the air to plop into one of the vats, the now sludge like water swallowing the book immediately.

That done, Prey was right behind Gloom in charging back up the tunnel, uneven stone hurting his hooves as he ran.

Gloom reached the bottom of the slope and charged up it back into the grey light, replacement spear at the ready. For a moment, the misty gloom of the forest was blinding compared to the darkness of the cave they'd just left, and Prey couldn't see.

But he could hear, and he didn't hear gurgling.

"Crimson? What are you doing here?" He heard Gloom exclaim, "You were supposed to meet up with us at the ravine."

A flash of shadow briefly relieved Prey's vision long enough for him to regain his eyesight. The source of the shadow was Crimson. He was standing over Prey. His yellow eyes glared.

Prey stumbled back, but Crimson was much faster. A strong wing hooked Prey out of the caves entrance before he could flinch, and Prey found himself with his back to a tree and with Crimson's drawn face far too close.

"What were those traps?" Crimson hissed, his voice oddly wavering.

"Which traps-?"

"Those traps you made! Those weren't poison, those were some kind of insane acid."

"You went through the minefield? I told you to stay away from those." Prey shot back, "That was supposed to be our escape route!"

"You lied. I almost died in there, I had to fly out of there."

"You never asked what those mines did, you said you didn't want to know! I told everyone to stay away from those, so why didn't you listen? You could've died."

"I know I almost died! The kindersnatches...", All the anger drained out of Crimson. One second it was there, the next it was gone as if it had never existed, and the sadness it'd been masking was all that was left.

"The kindersnatches all died. Every single one of them. That was... they melted. Into a pools and... bones. Your mines exploded and the acid just went straight through them, like they were paper." Crimson shuddered violently.

Prey imagined Crimson, who hadn't been aware of the large splash range of the Bone Rot mines, running through the area they'd trapped before going through the bird skull picket line. That was supposed to be their escape route, with a safe path through the minefield Prey had memorised. Crimson would certainly have almost died when the very first mine triggered. From there, Crimson must've had to have flown like crazy to avoid the chain reaction.

"I told everyone not to go there, to only follow the safe path." Prey mumbled defensively.

But why had Crimson decided to led the kindersnatches through there at all? That was supposed to be their escape route, but now it was used up.

"What do you mean Crimson? Those traps Prey set up? And why'd you have to retreat through that area?" Gloom asked in concern.

"Those plant sack bombs that Prey made were some kind of acid, not poison," Crimson answered Gloom, "They melted through the kindersnatches and the pon... the people inside like they weren't even there."

"You said you didn't want to know." Prey repeated stubbornly, "Why're we just standing here? This is the middle of the warlock's territory. We need to get into cover."

"Because all of the kindersnatches are dead. They're not coming back. They are no longer a threat, just as you wanted Prey." Crimson said, teeth clenched.

"No, only the ones which were waiting here are dead. The warlock has more of them. And why're you upset?" Prey demanded, looking around accusingly, "You said no matter what or how many kindersnatches we had to kill, the warlock had to be stopped. I'm just doing what you all said."

Crimson's mouth hung open as he stalled, "I, you, we did agree that. We did. You're right, I'm sorry, it's just that... I just didn't want any of this..."

Crimson's gaze fell to the ground, and in doing so onto the jade necklace. "...I keep forgetting. I'm not alone, it's not just me..." He whispered to himself.

Prey looked away too. He knew what Bone Rot mines did to flesh. He'd made them after all. In a flash, he could see it all in his mind's eye.

Crimson must've been running with the kindersnatches chasing behind him, always being careful not to draw too far ahead. The kindersnatches would've been trying to get ahead of Crimson by cutting turns.

Maybe Crimson had simply run out of other routes to lead the pack of gurgling kindersnatches down. Maybe they'd actually been succeeding in herding him. It didn't really matter. Either way, Crimson had run into the trapped area, seeing the carefully broken twig Prey had propped on an exposed pine root to mark the safe path.

Prey had set the Bone Rot mines by himself while the others kept watch on the forest. They hadn't seen how Prey had hidden the mines or the triggers he'd rigged, merely the areas where he'd pointed them to; "Stay away from there if you don't want to die."

Crimson must've been expecting cleverly concealed trip wires or trigger branches hidden under pine needles and thorn bushes.

Prey had used none of those. He'd used invisible runes.

Those first few seconds running into the area, Crimson must've been unsure if he was on the right path, worried that he might've forgotten the landmarks.

He must've just been considering whether or not to use the magic of his necklace to deal with the kindersnatches, despite Prey and Gloom's repeated warnings to save his strength if at all possible. He likely slowed down, indecisive, and the first closing in kindersnatch must've hit the first trigger rune.

The Bone Rot mine would've burst with a loud sucking *Pop*, like a hoof pulled free from mud.

Prey could clearly imagine what Crimson had seen out of the corner of his eye. He'd seen it often enough himself.

A thin sheet of smoking yellow-green liquid, expanding through the air like a popping bubble.

The Bone Rot would've hit the first kindersnatch, and any other kindersnatch within about five hooves, and then the liquid would've gone straight through them.

There would have been this huge sizzle, a hiss, and the wicker section of kindersnatch the splash hit would've simply vanished, along with any attached body part of host within.

It would've looked like it was simply gone, that's how fast Bone Rot reacted when exposed to living matter and air. Like someone had taken a giant invisible spoon and scooped a chunk out of the kindersnatch.

Flesh, organs, bones, wicker, and all.

The Bone Rot mines Prey'd made had been small. The splashes wouldn't have been concentrated enough to dissolve the whole victim. Maybe only half. Crimson would've been left staring halfway into a suddenly opened up body.

A fully sized Bone Rot mine with the correct density of liquid wouldn't have stopped only half way through. Prey had seen the splash wave of one wash over the front half of a Border Guard and make him vanish.

The back half of the Guard, with organs and spine severed as cleanly as could be, had remained standing there for a full horrifying second. Then it'd overbalanced forwards into the pool of unspent Bone Rot on the ground in front of it, and vanished in a hiss like it had plunged into a deep lake, and not a puddle a centimeter deep.

The likes of that is what Crimson would've seen when Prey's Bone Rot mines exploded.

His eyes had likely widened, he'd probably lost his footing and took a wrong step, and then all of the other kindersnatches were running into the mined area, triggering more sucking *Pops* and explosive hisses all around him, and Crimson was madly dodging spatters of Bone Rot, staggering about as droplets of vicious green liquid pattered down all around him.

And somehow, Crimson must've avoided every single flying drop.

Prey sucked in air sharply over his teeth as he realised Crimson had every right to be angry with him, even though Prey had warned him. Crimson's anger wasn't wholly about killing all the kindersnatches, it must be because he'd nearly died too. If it weren't for Crimson's incredible reaction speed and jade necklace, he would be dead right now.

But that little quiet voice in Prey whispered, 'But he didn't listen to your warning about the Wolfing Woods.'

"Later," Gloom interrupted, not even able to focus on the lethal traps Prey had created in lieu of what he'd just seen down in the cave. "All this can wait until later. We need to get out of the area. I have every reason to believe the warlock knows we're here now. North West, move."

Crimson's head snapped up, "If the warlock is returning, then this is the best opportunity to ambush him we're going to get. He doesn't get to walk away from this again."

"He'll know it's an ambush," Prey immediately protested, "We'll be the ones who get ambushed. We're in the middle of his territory. Feel that evil in the air? There's no way we'll successfully pull off-"

Prey stopped speaking. He quickly spun around, scanning the trees on the far side of the basin. He swung his head back and forth, trying to hear what that noise was again.

It had sounded like a heavy, distant thump.

Everyone else had frozen too. Everything about where they were and what they were doing was suddenly driven to the forefront of everybody's mind and into stark focus.

There, distant, faint, a heavy thump.

*Thump...* It came from somewhere deep in the shadows and mist.

*Thump* Like something heavy impacting something soft, an exhalation or whoosh of air.

*Thump* Gloom and Crimson heard it too that time.

A long stilted pause, *...Thump*

Ever so slightly louder, *Thump* Came again.

'Zoma'Grika.'

'-it's coming this way-'

"Retreat," Gloom ordered bitterly, "We've spent our one surprise attack. Pull back, regroup, we'll return later."

"Sir, but, what was down there in the cave-?"

"You don't want to know Scenic. Now move!"

Breaking into a run, stealth abandoned in favour of getting out of the warlock's area of control as soon as possible, Gloom led the way out of the basin, gaining speed.

'I'm not getting left behind!' Prey ran as fast as he could to keep up. If the warlock was smart, they were no doubt trying to encircle the area right now. The ISND needed to break out of the tightening noose before it could finish closing.

Prey could only hope they hadn't overstayed their welcome.

'Sloppy. Amaturish.' This was the exact opposite of how Prey wanted things to go.

Hadn't they learnt anything? Had surviving the night in Mayflower meant so little?

Their one surprise attack had been wasted, his prepared killing field had been all used up by Crimson on accident, and now worst of all, the warlock knew their position. And for what? To destroy the warlock's workshop? If they'd trapped the cave instead of Gloom just trashing the place in a fit of rage-But no, that option was gone and there was no use dwelling on it.

'It all was for nothing.'

So Prey ran behind the others through the misty forest, breathing heavily and grimly alert as they made haste to escape the area. Whippy branches, thorn bushes. Cuts and scrapes cracked open afresh, and painful bruises were gained, but they couldn't afford to slow down. Faster. They needed to get out.

Prey did not want to meet whatever was large or strong enough to have been making those, *Thumps*

So he ran.

Prey had a stitch in his side when Gloom finally cantered to a halt and let them stop. He gasped for air as quietly as he could, leaning heavily against the craggy bark of one of the pines while trying to press the stitch out of existence with a cloven hoof.

Still gasping, Prey glanced warily back the way they'd come, but of course he didn't see any sign of pursuit. It was impossible to know if they were being chased, but they couldn't run forever, especially not with the ravine somewhere up ahead. The only way to tell was to halt and see.

If they weren't being chased, great, but if they were, then at least they'd gotten a moment to rest.

Right now, Prey was ridiculously glad he'd lost his heavy backpack, despite losing everything it'd carried. All he had weighing him down currently was a nearly empty rolled up cloth bag, and his single water canteen, which he now uncapped and swallowed from. The water was gritty and brackish, taken from the little stream in Mayflower, but that hardly mattered.

Water was ten times more valuable than food.

Prey wiped his mouth and tried to think, anxiously staring back the way they'd come.

How could they turn this situation around? Perhaps if they really were being chased, they could set an ambush to whittle down the warlock's forces before running away again? Unfortunately, Prey doubted the warlock was dumb enough to be tricked into straying into the baloth's territory to the West. Perhaps he could work out where the warlock was right now if he-?

Prey stopped halfway through screwing the canteen's cap back on. His droopy ear twitched towards the depths of the forest.

*...thump*

Prey didn't wait to hear the second thump to confirm it, he immediately spun the canteen's cap shut and signalled Gloom.

"We're still being followed." Prey hissed.

"Up," Gloom whispered, hastily gesturing Scenic and Crimson up, "Up up. As discussed, we make for the ravine."

The plan here was simple. The ravine had been set as their rendezvous point for a reason, and it was the same reason they were fleeing in this direction.

How had they lost their pursuers last time? By crossing the ravine. The kindersnatches and the scarecrow had lacked the necessary dexterity to climb across, and hadn't even tried.

Thus, they now continued making straight for the ravine at a swift pace, alternating between a run and a canter. If they galloped, then they'd likely get run down once they ran out of stamina. Or Prey and Gloom would. Gloom still had his flank injury, and Prey was a runt.

Replicating pines trees seemed to appear ahead and disappear behind in an endless loop.

Prey breathed hard, pine mould clogging in the back of his throat. It was nerve wracking, having to pace themselves like this instead of fleeing at full speed. And what if they ran into another monster en-route? Like another Mama'duke?

'But something's been clearing the large beasts in this area.' Prey remembered the deeply misted dell Fallen Leaf had led them to, with the mysteriously slain beasts and monsters. Was that only two days ago?

The deer and his whole holt were probably dead now, just like so many others. By monsters or warlock, it made no difference.

Prey pulled up short to prevent himself from tumbling down the hill that marked the descent to the ravine, hidden in the mist below. Without time to spare, he began winding his way down the slope, Gloom and the other two ahead already of him.

He jumped over a tree root seeking to twist his hoof, dodging thorn patches as best he could, but just taking the sting where he couldn't. His breathing was ragged, despite having pacing himself.

But they'd made it, and with no sign of their pursuers.

The plunging steep rocks of the ravine gaped open in front of them, the depths hidden in mist. Prey stumbled out of the trees at the bottom of the slope last, and saw Scenic casting back and forth at the ravine's edge looking for a good fallen tree trunk to cross with.

"Here, this one, it looks stable." Prey called out, panting and beckoning. Prey was selfish. He was sending Scenic first to test the tree trunk.

"Not happening." Gloom grunted. He grabbed Scenic under one front leg, just like he'd done last time, and without any pause Crimson grabbed the other.

Their wings opened wide, and they tipped forwards over the ravine's edge before Scenic's eyes could fully widen or he could freeze up. They briefly plummeted and then Gloom and Crimson caught the air, and they swooped back up and over the ravine's far edge.

'Zoma'Grika.' Prey thought as he realised in panic they were going to try and carry him across too. He was not doing that.

No way, no how. No one was going to touch him.

But Gloom and Crimson were already flapping back over the plunging drop to death, having not even landed after unceremoniously depositing Scenic on the other side.

"No no, I'll cross by myself-Donttouchme!"

Prey spun around. Before, at this same ravine, Prey had considered the choice of fleeing back into the forest and going it alone, the best he knew how to. He could fight the warlock on his own terms. Now Prey had the same choice.

But just like last time, he hesitated too long on deciding if to run. A foolish mistake, but one he kept making. You would've thought he would've known not to hesitate by now.

With a whoosh of air and feathers, Crimson's forelegs wrapped tightly around Prey's middle from behind and jerked him into the sky.

Prey left his stomach behind, and then it snapped back in with a lurch so violent he felt like he was going to vomit.

Prey gagged, back legs kicking wildly as they suddenly found themselves unsupported and his ears flapped in a rush of air. And then he started to thrash and shriek.

"Let me go let me go! Don't touch me!" Prey squeaked in high pitched outrage.

Thankfully, Crimson did not listen and didn't let him go. They were flying over the ravine.

"Let me go!" Prey's small hoof punched Crimson wildly in the cheek.

"Ow! Stop it Prey," Crimson yelped, "Stop wriggling, I'm trying to-"

Just then Prey looked down. Staring green eyes in a withered face and bared teeth starred straight up at him from out of the ravine.

Prey did what anyone else would've done under the circumstances in his situation. He screamed.

"Watch out!"

"Stop struggling Prey."

"No, below!"

"You-" Gloom looked down and let out a shout of surprise.

There was a flash of green light and Prey felt a rush of acceleration, as he was simultaneously blinded by air blasting into his eyes.

The landscape blurred, Prey heard from somewhere the distinctive *snick* of Crimson's wing blades flicking out, then Crimson was no longer holding him and Prey was stumbling as he was deposited on the dirt at speed.

"Corporal Shimmer, you're alive!" Gloom exclaimed in utter shock.

'What!?'

Prey stared. There at the edge of the ravine, stood the Border Guard, Shimmer. That haggard face Prey'd seen staring up at him was Shimmer's.

The Corporal's face was a frightening sight to behold. Drawn, pale, and wide eyed. His helmet was gone, along with half the brown armour he'd worn the last time they'd seen him, and the remaining pieces were torn. His straw coloured coat was matted and stained with dirt. There were smears of dried blood mixed in there with the dirt too. He stood on the edge of the ravine, having climbed up from somewhere, and now stood staring at them.

Even in such dire distress, Shimmer's mind was still a black hole to Prey's mental perception, which was why he hadn't sensed the unicorn until he'd looked down and gotten such a fright.

That, and Shimmer was supposed to be dead.

Where had he climbed up from? How had he even gotten here? Where was Atlas? What had happened?

'How? How is he still alive? That's not fair.' Prey internally raged.

"Follow me." Shimmer croaked.

"Follow where? You're hurt, you need attention-"

"Follow me now if you want to live!"

Shimmer spun around, right on the brink of the ravine's edge, and pointed down into it. "Down there, hide before it gets here. Follow me."

The instant assumption was that Shimmer was gesturing for them to follow him in jumping to their deaths, but since Shimmer had somehow just clambered up from the ravine, obviously that wasn't the case and it was something else.

Prey wanted to say that they shouldn't trust someone who should be dead, but that wasn't logic anyone here would listen to.

Gloom tried to approach the battered unicorn, "What's coming? Corporal Shimmer, what happened to you? Where's Atlas?"

'Yes let's just keep stupidly standing here instead of running or hiding.'

Shimmer flinched from Gloom. He hurriedly glanced across the ravine, looking at the misty forest from whence the ISND had just come.

"Atlas is...gone." Shimmer's voice cracked. He pointed down into the ravine again; "If you want to live, follow me."

With that, Shimmer turned and slid down off the edge.

"Wait-!"

All of them jumped forwards to the edge to see. Shimmer was gone. There was no sign of him. Where had he gone? There was no way he'd fallen all the way down the ravine in only half a second.

Then Shimmer's head popped out of the rock, his haggard face staring up at them. "Hurry up." He hissed.

It was a tiny overhang. Prey saw how the stone's shade and the shadow of the ravine all conspired to make the narrow entrance nearly invisible. Another cave, barely three yards below their hooves. How had Shimmer discovered this? Would they all even fit inside?

Gloom reached a speedy decision, '-whatever Shimmer is running from, I don't want to meet, and we can't abandon him-'

"Crimson, you go down first and hover outside in case Prey or Scenic slips. It's not far." Gloom ordered, his own bat wings spreading out taut.

"Yes sir." Without even pausing Crimson dropped off the sheer ravine edge, powerful wings snapping open to hover. Shimmer's horned head ducked back into the hidden cave to get out of the pegasus's way as he flapped in place.

"You're next Scenic." Gloom ordered.

Scenic gulped, closed his eyes, and turned around to let himself slide over the edge backwards, rear hooves first. He successfully hit the ledge and then tipped forwards into the narrow cave and out of their sight. Crimson checked he was okay in there as he hovered, wings beating, then gestured back up for Prey to hurry.

Prey tried to protest, "We don't know what's down there, or even if that's the real Shimmer. It could be a trap of the warlock puppeteering his body-"

"Prey, not now. It's obviously the real Shimmer, get down there before I push you." Gloom ordered.

"No, this is a bad idea-"

Gloom moved to push Prey.

"Don't touch me!" Prey spat in fury, backing up, but Gloom kept advancing.

"Now Prey. We're being chased, and Shimmer's got us a hiding spot."

Caught between getting stuck up here with Gloom going to push him off, along with whatever the warlock had chasing them, Prey made the decision and jumped over the edge. Crimson was already waiting down there, and Scenic probably would've triggered a trap going in first if there had been one.

He slid down the ravine's steep side, dirt and pebbles scraping his wool, stomach jumping into his throat for one horrible second as he started to gain speed and still hadn't arrived, and then his back hooves hit the ledge.

Prey teetered for a second, front hooves frantically waving for balance. He had a horrible moment as he stared down down into the ravine, foreseeing Shimmer giving him a nudge with magic and sending him plummeting to his death, but Crimson was already moving forwards to catch him.

Prey flinched and jerked himself away from Crimson's extended hoof, which proved enough to let him overbalance backwards and sprawl into the darkness of the cave, tail first.

Lying on his back, Prey looked up, seeing the shadowy outline of a unicorn upside down. He rolled over and scrambled away to the side of the narrow cave as fast as he could. Broken shards of small stone shifted under him as he put his back to the uneven wall. The air smelled of earth all around.

This small cave was very much unlike the one the warlock had commandeered. This one was low, narrow, and cramped, more a hidden opening in the ravine's face than an actual cave. There was next to no light either, and it was only Prey who could stand up, the others would either have to sit or bend double.

What little light there was abruptly cut off as Gloom joined them, folding his wings before ducking and shuffling deeper inside to admit Crimson's own stooped figure a few seconds later.

Prey didn't like this in the slightest. He had a bad feeling, and it had everything to do with Shimmer really being the same unicorn from before. The blank walls of Shimmer's mind were exactly the same as last time, he'd merely been trying logic to reason with Gloom.

Shimmer should be dead, but here he was. What had the unicorn done to survive? Everything comes at a price.

Gloom wanted to know that too.

'-how is he still alive? Does that mean not everything I thought was lost is? There might be hope yet-'

"How are you alive? What happened that night?"

"Shh," Shimmer hissed, flinching. "Keep your voice down. Do you want it to hear you?"

Gloom had been keeping his voice down, but apparently not far enough for the frightened Shimmer. Still, Gloom lowered his voice even further, "Are you injured?" He whispered.

Prey saw Shimmer's head shaking back and forth in the near darkness, "Nothing that you could help with."

"Let us try. We can help. What are we hiding from? What happened that night?" Gloom pressed, desperate for answers.

Shimmer's outline seemed to deflate in on itself, as if every cell in the unicorn's body had simultaneously sagged. When he spoke, his voice was just a tired whisper.

"We lost. That's what happened. You lost, I lost, Atlas lost. I tried to follow after the foalnapped ponies into the forest, but the warlock's foul creations were moving as if the very hounds of Tartarus were on their heels. Atlas was already injured, and... I should've ordered him to fall back. He would never have listened though, that stubborn sentimental loyal fool."

"I'm sorry for your loss. Atlas is, was a good pony from what little interaction we had. But why are we hiding down here Shimmer? Keeping moving would-"

"-And then it would get you. Nopony's leaving until it's gone."

"The scarecrow?" Scenic guessed.

"Yes the scarecrow you talentless blank flank," Shimmer hissed, broken anger in every syllable:

"I ran. It chased me. I meant to lose it over the ravine like you did the first time. But it followed me across. I fell down here, it's only complete blind luck that I landed in this tiny cave. I should be dead. I'm sure the warlock thinks I am."

"W-what happened to, to Atlas?" Scenic whispered haltingly.

Shimmer didn't answer for a moment. "We finally caught up with the foalnapped ponies inside the forest. His injury...Atlas couldn't fly. We got split up in the dark. I didn't see. We were trying to keep up with the lights, and I could hear ponies shouting for help. And then I heard him shouting too, and then screaming for me to leave him and go on. I think those twisted kindersnatch zomponies got him."

"Oh." Scenic mumbled in a small voice.

"I don't want to talk about it." Shimmer said.

No one made any mention of what they'd found when they cut that one kindersnatch open, even if Gloom and Scenic were loudly thinking about it, and fervently trying not to.

'I hope Atlas really is dead. Unlike Shimmer who doesn't have the decency to obey the odds and die.' Prey thought viciously, glaring for all he was worth at the Border Guard's outline. The unicorn wouldn't be able to see his glare in the dark.

"Did you see where the townsponies were taken, perhaps?" Gloom prodded as gently as he could manage. Having to ask after hearing of Atlas' death made Gloom feel like manure. He could only imagine; '-how much worse it must be for Shimmer-'

"You think I didn't try?" Shimmer growled, temper suddenly blazing up. It guttered out and died just as quickly as it'd reared its head, "No. No I didn't see. What I saw was the warlock's new scarecrow."

Crimson shifted in the shadows, and a trace of jade green light drifted off the magical chain around his neck, "What can you tell us about the combat capabilities of this new scarecrow?"

"What's it to you?" Shimmer demanded coldly in a whisper, "Even with that fancy new necklace you pulled out of nowhere, it won't help you."

"I'm sorry that I wasn't able to lend it to you, but we're here to stop the warlock. This new scarecrow-"

"I was also there the night before last, I know your limits," Shimmer cut across, "You won't beat this scarecrow. It isn't like the old one. This ones huge, as tall as the trees, and it's got some kind of dark magic protection."

"Well that's just perfect." Gloom muttered to himself. The warlock had an even stronger black magic weapon roaming around on the lookout for them.

"Quiet!" Shimmer hissed.

Everyone stopped moving and stilled. Prey strained his ears, trying to hear what was happening out above on the ravine. Did he hear anything? No, nothing, there was no gurgling, nor any sound of approach that he could hear.

There wasn't- *thump*

Everyone froze.

*thump, Thump, Thump*

It was hard to tell from underground, but the deep, soft, impact sounds seemed to be coming from the far side of the ravine, where they'd just crossed over from.

Everyone stopped breathing too.

They were trapped down here in this tiny cave. If they were discovered, there was nowhere to run. Prey childishly covered his mouth with both hooves, as if it would make any difference.

The scarecrow had followed them this far. Did it have some magical means of tracking them? Could it see through stone and see them cowering down here? No, no, that couldn't be. Shimmer had hidden down here before and hadn't been discovered, so that couldn't be true. But Shimmer was a liar and a Border Guard. This could all be one huge trap.

'And I walked right into it like a fool.'

*thump, thump... thump*

It was shifting around up there, casting about on the ravine's edge. Possibly staring down with stolen eyes at their hiding place right now.

Prey slowly curled his legs under himself, getting ready to launch himself at the traitorous Shimmer. At this range, he could touch Shimmer before the unicorn could cast anything. Maybe. No, he could do it. Maybe. But he couldn't read the unicorn's thoughts.

*Thump*

Prey felt a tiny trickle of rock dust sprinkle his face. That had come from above them. The scarecrow, it had just leaped across the ravine.

In the dark, Prey saw the outline of Scenic covering his mouth, and the faint yellow sheen of Gloom's slitted eyes as he stared up at the ceiling.

Prey's lungs were hurting, but he didn't dare breathe. He was scared.

*Thump....Thump.*

They were completely trapped down here. There was no backup escape route. He was completely blind as to what was happening up there, with no way to tell if the warlock had discovered the hidden cave. Why had he let Gloom force him down here? He should've fought back, refused, and taken control of Gloom's mind.

'Never back yourself into a corner.'

Was this like the night in Mayflower? No, not even close. But it didn't need to be some unknown ancient horror, the tail soiling terror of discovery was just as real. The warlock had already killed many people, and Prey could easily become one of their number.

'-I've come so far, we've survived so much. Please Celestia, not like this, please let me make it back home again-', Scenic was silently praying.

*Thump Thump... thump........thump...................thump*

The movement up above, it sounded like it was leaving, the tiny tremors Prey could feel transmitted through the stone under his hooves growing weaker. The scarecrow was leaving.

Or was it just the oldest trick in the book?

No one moved, they barely breathed. They might not have had as good hearing as Prey, but they could still think. Two of the minds in here were shielded or blanks, but the two Prey could hear were thinking the exact same thing as he was.

'-has it really left? Or-'

'-is this it a trap? Toying with us?-'

In tense silence, they waited. And waited.

An hour they waited, cramped into that tiny cave, hunched over in the dark, ears straining for that soft reverberating thump of the enormous scarecrow returning.

It didn't.

In the dark and silence, Prey slowly began tracing out a number of runes on a broken off chunk of rock.

"I think it's gone." Gloom finally whispered.

"You can't possibly know that for sure, Sargent." Shimmer whispered back.

"You're right, but we can't just sit here waiting to be found. We have to do something."

Shimmer didn't answer or otherwise give any indication he'd heard the thestral's words. He continued to just sit there unmovingly in the darkness of their tiny cave.

"Shimmer?" Gloom prompted, "Corporal Shimmer?"

"I am sorry for your loss," Shimmer abruptly said, "Lilly Blossom, that was her name, right?"

"How did you know?" Scenic gasped. What a stupid question.

"If she's not here with you, then that must mean..." Shimmer trailed off.

"Lilly isn't...'dead' per-say." Gloom admitted hollowly. He cleared his throat, it sounding like he had something painful trapped in there:

"But, well, we couldn't wake her after the Mama'duke. We had to leave her behind. She's hidden up in a tree to the East of Alfalfa Dale, or what's left of the town. There's an 'X' marked on its base. If you make it and we don't, could you...?" Gloom asked, his guilt over asking this of Shimmer when the Corporal had lost his own subordinate was outweighed by his want to help Lilly if, as in all likelihood, they died.

'Why you have to tell him that?' Prey thought. They shouldn't be telling the Border Guard anything. Not that he cared what happened to Lilly. She was a deadmare walking. Or not walking.

"Noponies going off anywhere to get killed," Shimmer denied, "We're all staying right here until help arrives."

"Help? What help? We cannot cower in here like rats waiting to be found, it is all up to us if we want to live." Crimson whispered, speaking up for the first time in an hour.

"You didn't see what I saw," Shimmer hissed back, "This isn't a fight we can win. We need reinforcements, backup, mages. You said your Captain was supposed to be sending help. Where are they? Why aren't they here yet?"

After a long pause, Gloom shook his head, crushing whatever hope Shimmer might've been holding out on, "Nopony came. We've waited a whole day. They were supposed to arrive by train yesterday, but..."

"What? They'd just-? How could your Captain abandon you like this? The Border Guard would never leave a pony behind."

'You filthy racist liar,' Prey seethed. It almost seemed like Shimmer was looking mockingly at him in the dark, 'You say you Border Guards don't leave ponies behind, but you left all of us behind. You abandoned us to the Resistance.'

Prey took some deep breaths. Shimmer may be a filthy unicorn liar, but his point still stood. Why hadn't Captain Nighthawk come like he'd promised?

Gloom couldn't answer either, "I... I don't know."

Inside, Gloom was certain Nighthawk wouldn't have just abandoned them, even if a little voice in the back of his mind was pointing out all the evidence to the contrary. That wasn't how the clans worked or thestrals thought, but Gloom sadly doubted the worked up and afraid Shimmer would listen.

What Gloom didn't realise was that Scenic Paint was desperate to hear an explanation from Gloom too. He wasn't a thestral, he didn't come from the clans, and didn't understand what Gloom and Crimson understood. Inside he still wanted to know; '-why? Why has the captain abandoned us? What did we do? I'm scared-'

"So it's true. We are on our own. We're staying here. Nopony leaves." Shimmer muttered, turning away.

Prey bit his tongue, glaring in hateful silence.

"The warlock will win if we do nothing," Crimson stated, "And we can't do anything if we stay in here. Even running away is better than doing nothing." He said without any shame.

"No," Gloom said softly, his rasping voice turning it into a growl as the fresh memories of what they'd seen in the other cave flashed in his mind, "Corporal Shimmer is right, we should stay here. For now. Wait until the warlock gives up and recalls his abomination. Then we'll sneak in and hit him again. Remember, no matter how many fights and skirmishes it takes."

Prey did not want to stay here, here was bad. There was no escape route out if they were found down here, not inside the very ravine itself. Not unless he was prepared to jump.

Prey glanced at the caves entrance. Outside, all that could be seen was the opposite wall of the ravine, partly obscured in mist. Far above them somewhere, it was afternoon.

Another hiding place would be better, one without a Border Guard in it. Surely Gloom couldn't mean to wait in here until night fell, could he? If they were really going to stay hidden in here, they'd have to stay here all night. Look what had happened the last time one of their number had ventured into the forest during the night. Lilly had gotten bitten by a Mama'duke. And...what had come after.

Gloom had said they were going to fight the warlock. This wasn't fighting, not how Prey knew how to fight. It was all going wrong.

If they'd just set up traps in the warlock's cave and left like Prey had wanted-

'This is all being done so wrong. It's wrong, all of it. Gloom doesn't know what he's doing. Even Crimson doesn't know what he's doing.'

It seemed only Prey knew.

'So why am I just sitting here, letting Gloom mislead us? Why do I allow him too? I owe Crimson, not Gloom. And after what happened and Mayflower... Do I really? He made a mistake, I made a mistake, Gloom made a mistake, mistakes all around. But then there's him.'

Prey paused in secretly laying runes and fixed Shimmer's outline with a look of pure venom in the dark. 'A unicorn and a Border Guard. Why is he this close to me and still alive?'

Prey felt the smooth gold of the tracer bands around his forelegs, 'Oh right. Because I'm just a slave.'

Prey had made those Bone Rot mines, but it hadn't been enough. He'd saved Lilly like they'd forced him too, and also he'd saved them from what came after, but it still hadn't been enough. It was he who'd come up with the idea to throw the message-in-a-bottle fire at the scarecrow. It was him who'd talked to the deer and secured them a guide.

It was Prey who'd stopped Garrow, it was him who'd led them to the correct Lumber Yard, him who'd devised the plan to discover Wheat Plow and catch Copper Pot.

And before that, it was him who'd tracked down Night Watcher when the Solar Guard and Captain Valour had all failed. Him. All him.

And after all that, after all he'd been forced to do in service, he was still a slave.

Prey's teeth ground together, tighter and tighter. 'Still nothing but a two bit, second rate citizen under a sun tyrant and her demon sister.'

Luna had lied. Nothing he did would ever be enough to earn his freedom.

It was him who'd done everything. Only him. The others were all worse than useless, what were they without him? What had anyone else ever done?! Nothing! They owed everything to him, and yet they still constantly got him into these dire situations because ponies always thought they knew better.

'Crimson saved my life.'

That little reminder made Prey stutter to a halt. Because Crimson had done that. He'd saved Prey without any thought of fairness or reward. Without Crimson, Prey would be dead.

'So what?' Prey thought, anger flaring back to life, 'He also went into the Wolfing Woods and risked all of our lives when he should've listened to me!'

But even so... he still owed Crimson.

Prey's head jerked up as the shape of Shimmer moved, and Prey was just about to leap forwards or possibly backwards when he saw Gloom's shape was wordlessly offering Shimmer his water canteen.

'-why didn't I think to offer sooner?-'

Shimmer took it, slowly unscrewing the lid to prevent noise. Prey had not seen any supplies on the unicorn, almost everything having been lost under the collapsed house in Mayflower, but even so, Shimmer did not gulp the water. He took slow, measured sips, and stopped after only four and hoofed the canteen back to Gloom.

That meant Shimmer must've had some way of procuring water himself, because he should've been as dry as a bone after nearly two days. Since he was a unicorn, he must know some spell. Another clue to Shimmer's abilities.

Gloom was just wasting his water on the Border Guard. Prey would never do that. If Shimmer was on fire and Prey had a glass of water-

*..............thump........thump...Thump, Thump*

Everyone froze, back to not breathing as they stared up at the ceiling.

*Thump, Thump*

Getting closer.

*Thump Thump*

Almost right on top of them.

*Thump...*

And there it stopped.

Somewhere above them through the stone, likely less than ten hooves away, stood the scarecrow.

Scenic was covering his mouth again, whether to muffle his breathing or to stop himself from screaming if something suddenly happened, Prey didn't know.

'-I never said sorry to ma' or pa'. Oh please oh please no-'

A spark of green light came from Crimson's necklace. The pegasus was tensed to spring, and next to him, Gloom was trying to think of a plan, '-why's it halted? Isn't it just returning the way it came? Why hasn't it jumped back across the ravine yet?-'

Prey desperately wanted to know the same thing. Had the warlock somehow discovered them with some dark magic Prey didn't know of?

They all waited with baited breath, tensed for another thump of movement. But it didn't come.

Had the scarecrow suddenly become stealthy? Changed how it moved perhaps?

A minute. Two minutes. Five minutes. With each crawling second, the stale air grew tenser. Why wasn't the blasted scarecrow moving?! It couldn't be a coincidence that it'd stopped right above them.

But if they moved or did anything, they'd give themselves away without a doubt.

Six minutes. Eight minu-

Prey felt a foul presence pass over him, like flies crawling across his face. It was perverse, and it seemed to emanate from the very stones of the cave's ceiling.

At the exact same time, there was a painful tingle in his hooves and Prey knew that the perverse feeling was magic.

Shimmer flinched, and Crimson's necklace suddenly flared bright green in the dark.

*Thump*

They'd been discovered!

*Thump* CreeeaaakCrunch*

The noise from overhead shifted and suddenly it was the cave that seemed to be shifting. Prey stumbled as the sound of rocks grinding together deafened him. He barely heard Scenic give a yell of fear over the din. Stone breaking.

'My runes-!'

-Were unfinished and useless.

He hadn't had enough time to finish the array. Why did it always happen when he wasn't ready?

The whole cave was juddering. Stone shattered with an enormous *Crack*, falling pieces narrowly missing Prey.

Prey had to get out of here. But they were trapped, the only way out was a lethal plunge down into the ravine, and rock dust and dirt were falling from the roof and blinding him, getting in his eyes. He couldn't see.

Instinct made Prey try for the cave entrance anyways, it was the one and only exit. However there was someone faster than him. Green light raced down Crimson's limbs and in a blur he grabbed a hold of the closest person to him, Scenic, and dived for the exit.

But even Crimson was too slow.

Something, three somethings, black in the dark, long, jagged and curled burst out of the ceiling at one side of the cave, showering stone splinters everywhere. Prey fell over as the small cave shook, colliding with Gloom's leathery wing in the cramped space.

Prey tried to scramble to the other side of the cave as the three root-like things curled up and gripped the roof, and then three more things burst out of the ceiling on the other side of the cave, and missed skewering Shimmer's head by perhaps inches. Prey shoved himself free of Gloom with a heave of disgust and tried to crawl for the exit.

Then the two sets of worm root things hooked up into the ceiling and pulled.

Everything became deafening noise and breaking stone, the cave ceiling ripped away. Prey was blinded by grey light, sky, mist and falling dirt as he frantically tried to shield his head.

In the sudden lull as the rending of stone ended, Prey stared up from between his hooves.

Above him, a pair of massive claws grasped the chunk of stone and dirt that had been the cave's roof.

Above that, framed between the broken walls of the cave, the upper body of the shadowed scarecrow loomed. It was huge.

For two whole seconds Prey stared up as the giant construct ponderously lifted the chunk of stone away.

It wasn't shaped like an equine at all, not like the last scarecrow had been.

It was gigantic. Wreathed in tattered mist, it had an upright upper body, and wide, wicker spined shoulders. Set between these shoulders was a spiked metal cage thing, in which a disproportionately small pumpkin head sat, that familiar foul orange light spilling from the carved, leering face.

Just one of its arms was the length of a tree.

It could squash him like a fly.

Prey saw few other details in that brief fraction of time, the mist clinging to the construct of twisted magic obscuring it further. What he did see was more of the ragged cloth wrappings, blackened bands of iron bolted along its chest to reinforce the two arms, and more crazily gnarled wicker.

It was huge. It was terrifying. The mist stank of rot. Its arms were long, thick, knobbly, massive. Was that how it moved? Swinging itself forwards on its two enormous arms?

Dazed, Prey tried to roll to his hooves amidst the rubble.

He had to escape. He was vulnerable, exposed, helpless.

His only hope was to jump, try to slide down the ravine's walls to slow his fall, and hope he survived the landing at the bottom.

Red wings shot open above Prey's vision, green light dancing between the long pinions. Crimson was standing up, no, he was actually hovering! His forelegs were hooked around Scenic's barrel, the armoured Earth pony somehow being lifted solo by the pegasus.

A silent whoosh of air sent dust and rock dust billowing in every direction like a smoke screen. Prey squeezed his eyes shut as the cave and his surroundings disappeared, but at the last second he still saw what had caused it.

Still somehow lifting a stunned Scenic all by himself, Crimson shot off into the dust in the direction of the far ravine edge.

Crimson was getting them to safety? Prey couldn't see for all the blinding dust. What was happening?

He stumbled against stone. Was the huge scarecrow about to bring the stone slab back down and squash them into smears?

"Prey! Scenic!" He heard Gloom shouting hoarsely from somewhere right next to him.

Prey managed to open his eyes in the stinging dust to look where his mind sense was telling him to look, and he saw the dark olive green of Gloom's tail.

Prey lunged forwards and grabbed a hold of it with both hooves, "Fly!" He just had time to shriek before biting down to help hold on.

Gloom understood, or perhaps it was just the reaction of having something grab his tail. He leapt into the air with bat wings spread wide.

Prey was not Scenic Paint. He was a runt lamb, who barely weighed anything. Even swinging wildly from Gloom's tail over the open ravine as an ungainly counterweight, he was light enough for Gloom to carry across.

The gaping chasm spun sickeningly below Prey as he spun on the end of Gloom's tail. Air rushed in his ears, his heart raced, the feeling of touching someone never mind tasting was disgusting, and when solid ground appeared beneath him Prey let go.

Hard earth and dead foliage broke the short fall. In a second he was back on his hooves, aggravated bruises completely ignored. Two yards from Prey, the stunned form of Scenic lay sprawled, his mind a daze of disjointed thoughts to Prey. Scenic must've taken a blow to the helmet in all the falling rubble.

There, across on what was now the far side of the ravine, stood the scarecrow in all its awful glory.

It was even larger than Prey first realised. It had been hunched over, half obscured by mist, but at full height, the caged pumpkin head would brush the tips of the dark pines. He finally saw that it did indeed have legs, three gnarled claw like root things in a tripod shape.

Glaring orange light blazed from the leering pumpkin face and froze Prey where he stood, the horrible sensation of insects crawling under his wool assaulting him once again.

And who should be hovering above the open ravine and facing down this new scarecrow, no, it was too big for a scarecrow, this 'reaper king'?

Who else could it be, but Crimson? Green after images of light flowed behind his wings as he flapped to hover in place, glinting wingblades extended.

There was no way the warlock, somehow seeing through their golem created out of the murdered remains of villagers, didn't recognise Crimson as the one who'd taken down their last scarecrow.

As Crimson faced off against this reaper king, Prey felt a flash of...dread, panic, fear, thrill, anticipation?

There was no prelude. Between one wing beat and the next, Crimson became the green blur of light and speed Prey remembered.

It was the exact same dance as before. Crimson was simply too fast to be tracked or struck, his magically enhanced blades could cut through steel, and here in the open air above the ravine, he had the whole sky to maneuver in.

A trail of green arced forwards, blowing aside mist, and zipping behind the massive golem before it could turn. Crimson slashed faster than Prey could follow, shooting past back up into the sky and out of reach before the reaper king could react.

And then it did react. It straightened, its massive frame unfolding to even new heights, its shadow seeming to stretch and fall over everything. In its two clawed arms, it still carried the huge chunk of rock it had ripped so casually from the earth. It shrieked, a deep horrible sucking sound that was both an endless inhale and an endless exhale all at once, like a storm rushing through the hollow trunk of a rotting tree.

But it wasn't just a roar, or an intimidation tactic. What use had the reaper king for air or breathing? What was the use of simply making noise?

The feeling of crawling insects suddenly swarmed across Prey's face and his front hooves stung as the reaper king continued its terrible roaring inhale. It felt as if the thing was trying to inhale the very oxygen out of the air itself.

'Inhale, hurting hooves, magic, inhaling magic, mana. It's gathering all the ambient mana in the area!' Prey realised in a flash of horror.

Prey went to shout a warning to Crimson, but he never even got the first word out.

The scarecrow stopped inhaling, and then an invisible wave of force blasted out from it, the surrounding mist thrown off. The magic's effect was almost immediate.

Crimson had wisely been circling around for another pass from the reaper king's blind spot, but that was when something suddenly wrenched him violently out of the air.

With no grace or control whatsoever, Crimson plummeted, red feathers scattering in the air behind him. One wing was clamped down to Crimson's side, then it flapped free but now it was the other wing and his leg trapped. He spun over in the air, no longer falling but now suspended, gripped in place.

It was like he was being grabbed in an invisible giant claw, one that was ever reforming as Crimson tried to break free and it sought to retain its hold.

"Telekinesis." Prey whimpered. The warlock had made a golem that could use auraless telekinesis.

"Hang on Crimson!" Gloom shouted, spreading his own wings and leaping up to fly across the ravine. No sooner had Gloom taken off, than the reaper king's pumpkin head swivelled in their direction and foul orange light flared. Without warning, there was a rush of air and Gloom was struck backwards, like he'd been hit in the face with a door.

There were no words, but the warlock's intent could not have been more obvious if they'd shouted them through a megaphone. Crimson was their target. Everyone else was but mere interference.

Crimson struggled in midair, tangled in invisible strings. The telekinesis was seeking to drag the pegasus down close enough for the reaper king to reach, and then that would be the end, but the Crimson was not making it easy.

He bucked and kicked, fighting against air, flashes of green light strengthening his efforts as he jerked about. But Crimson was losing.

"Keep struggling Crimson!" Prey shouted as loudly as he could, voice shrill, "Fight it, fight! The magic will run out, it's not a living thing!"

If Crimson could just outlast the ambient mana the reaper king had sucked up, or if someone could distract the warlock long enough for the telekinesis to be broken, then Crimson could get out of range-

"Hey! Hey you!"

Shimmer, the left behind Border Guard who'd been forgotten in the terror of the reaper king's appearance, raced out from the dust of the broken open cave.

The unicorn sprang up the side of the ravine, somehow sticking to the almost sheer rock face like a mountain goat. His already tattered armour was now in pieces, dirt and dust coated him from mane to tail.

"Monster! Thief! Down here!"

Again, that familiar green disk of magic sprung into existence just above Shimmer's horn. He pointed it at the reaper king towering above him, like a cat over a mouse, and fired.

A stream of flames shot out from the disk of magic, and just like what'd happened when facing the lesser scarecrow, the flames washed across the reaper king's body like water. It may as well have been water for all the damage it did.

"That's right! Over here, Me!"

Mist dissipated and rags caught alight, but the flames did nothing. The reaper king was too huge. The flames looked like little more than a candle against its bulk.

But it did the one thing it needed to. It distracted the warlock, or perhaps the gathered ambient mana simply ran out at that exact second anyway, Prey would never know. The invisible claws grasping Crimson vanished, and the pegasus managed to right himself and shakily flap free before he hit the ground.

Shimmer had done it. He'd successfully managed to annoy the warlock.

Task accomplished, Shimmer spun on his hoof and raced off along the ravine's edge like his life depended on it, which it did, galloping unimpeded by armour or injury.

The reaper king still held the cave's roof.

It swivelled on its tripod legs, its huge clawed arms coming around, and with an underarm throw, it hurled the slab at the fleeing unicorn.

The slab of rock seemed to travel almost slowly. Shimmer turned his head at the last moment as the shadow fell over him.

The slab hit Shimmer, not even slowing, and continued over the ravine's edge, Shimmer crushed beneath.

For a moment of breathless stillness, the forest was quiet. Then a smashing crack boomed up from the ravine as the stone, which must've weighed over a tonne, bounced off the ravine wall.

"No." Gloom croaked.

Crimson hovered in the air, just as stunned, staring down into the misty depths which had just claimed Shimmer's life.

It was so sudden. So...real.

The reaper king loomed above the ravine, like some monolith wreathed in mist, as tall and unstoppable as it had first appeared. It had the power to rip tonnes of rock apart with its claws, use magic, and was unliving. It could not be killed.

'And it has already leapt across the ravine once, it can do it again.' Prey should've realised what that meant sooner.

'Oh Zoma'Grika.'

"We need to run, scatter! Stay out of range of it's telekinesis. Fly away Crimson!"

Prey's warning was drowned out under the terrible rattling inhale of the reaper king as it straightened and began to once again suck in all the ambient mana. Prey physically felt the air getting dragged past his face, and saw mist and fallen leaves swirl through the air.

Crimson shouted something, gesturing as he tried to fly towards them, but whatever he said, Prey couldn't hear over the roaring inhalation in his ears.

Prey turned to run, but he couldn't help looking back at Crimson, and then past him, at the terrible reaper king.

He saw Gloom dragging Scenic upright. Idiot, he should've just abandoned the useless Earth pony.

Sudden stinging pain in Prey's forehooves and the crawling sensation of swarming flies.

The rattling shriek of inhalation stopped at the exact same moment Prey's hoof missed the ground. He was falling backwards. No, wait, he was being pulled backwards in a swarm of invisible insects. It was like gravity had simply shifted ninety degrees, and there was nothing he could do about it.

His hoof tips scrapped uselessly at the ground as he sought for a hold. He was being dragged back over the ravine's edge!

'NonoNoNo!'

Prey thought he screamed. Scenic certainly did. Gloom tried to fly and help Scenic at the same time, and it wasn't working.

"Moon rot!"

Prey couldn't turn himself around, he couldn't catch a hold of anything! Grass, tree roots, thorn vines, dirt, rock, anything. Then suddenly there was no longer any ground beneath his back hooves and Prey's stomach plunged as he started to fall.

At the last second before Prey fully went over the edge, his scrabbling front hooves hooked onto the ravine's lip and his muscles were wrenched as his fall halted.

He panted with fear, desperately clinging on and kicking, rear hooves trying to get any sort of traction on the almost sheer rock face. He was a runt, but the crumbly edge could barely take even his weight.

Prey heard Scenic and Gloom falling behind him with a despairing shout, but he couldn't look, he had to hold on. Where was Crimson!? He'd saved Prey before, swooped in at the last second, he could do it again.

The rock edge broke up in Prey's hooves.

Prey stared in frozen disbelief as he tipped backwards and went over, and all he could think was, 'Really?'

Prey fell, sliding down the ravine's wall on his front. Rocks, dirt, cold stone flashing past, his wool getting torn off, bouncing off protrusions as he fell. He got smacked in the jaw, his teeth cracking together. He bit his tongue, his ear got crushed under him and scraped raw.

The opening in the sky, the ravine's edge, they vanished above him into mist and shadow as he desperately sought to stop falling away from them, 'NoNoNo!'

It just wasn't fair.

There was a rising roar. Prey plunged into freezing cold water. The world disappeared, bubbles and muffled noise. Prey flailed as he was snatched away by the current and whisked away. Bubbles flashed past in the dark water and went up his nose as he was flipped upside down.

Prey struck something so hard that he couldn't even tell where he'd been hit, everything just suddenly flared numb. He couldn't breathe. He tried to struggle for the surface and his head broke clear.

He gasped and coughed in the freezing water, spinning around in the speeding current as air burned his soaked face. Everything was cold and dark in shadow. Waterlogged wool sought to drag him back under as he kicked.

He may as well not have bothered for all it helped.

His lungs were burning savagely for air by the time he next came up from the dark water. A black, slick boulder shot past and he ineffectually grabbed for it, and then the river dunked him again.

Prey couldn't kick free to the currents edge, it was flowing too fast. The river was narrow, deep, and swift. The sheer ravine walls towered up from the water, offering no chance of being scaled.

The river abruptly plunged downwards, and just as he was going over the peak Prey saw Gloom and Scenic up ahead, clinging together and getting battered around and around in sprays of white water. Prey dropped and went under again. His back hooves managed to hit the bottom and he kicked upwards.

He broke from the river's surface again, still speeding along in the biting air and bitter water. He gasped and coughed.

More half submerged boulders shot past, and Prey tried to line himself up with one as he was getting spun around and around.

This one! Okay the next one. The next one. No this one.

A big boulder loomed ahead of Prey, and he hit it. The air left Prey's chest as he was flattened against the slick boulder by water pressure, but he was just able to hold on.

Prey tried to breathe as the freezing water continued to pound into his back, only his head above the dark water. He rested there, his cheek against the cold stone and panted, taking the moment's respite to catch his breath.

He couldn't stay here. He needed to get out of the river as soon as possible. Somehow. The longer he stayed in the water, the weaker he would get

'But in a minute. I just need a minute.'

Everything was numb and cold and hurting at the same time. Prey blinked water from his eyes as it streamed down his brow. A few inches below the end of his muzzle, the river rushed past, and his ears were caught in that flow, streaming out in the racing current.

Slowly, Prey managed to raise his head and lever himself half up out of the water, enough to be able to see over the top of the boulder at what lay ahead down the river.

Of Gloom, Scenic, and Crimson, there was no sign, just sheer rock walls, water, mist spray, and shadow. It didn't matter, he couldn't afford to focus on anyone but himself.

Ahead, Prey saw that the river curved to the right, and through the splashes and mist, Prey could make out the edge of something which looked like a flat bit of grey on the right. Was that a beach of some kind?

If it was a beach, and Prey desperately needed it to be, he had to get over onto the far side of the river. Opposite the beach and on this the left hoof side, the river would run fast and deep enough to drag him under.

Prey took as deep a breath of air as he could with the river hammering into his back, and then let the river drag him around the side of the boulder. Just as he was leaving contact with the slippery stone, he kicked off as best as he could manage into the river.

Immediately the current seized him for its own again. Prey tried to float and kick out as he was dragged along gathering speed again. Water splashed in his eyes and he only narrowly avoided getting brained against more boulders. The river bend was coming up very fast and the drag was getting stronger. Something cold and slimy touched his hoof.

The river whisked Prey around the bend before he was ready, and he kicked for all he was worth to stay on the right side. It was a beach, a narrow strip of land made up of a tangle of boulders, shattered tree trunks, and driftwood branches wedged between the rocks.

Prey's hooves touched rocky bottom, but he didn't manage to catch on, and the river sought to suck him back out into the middle. Prey gritted his teeth in panic and kicked. The bottom reappeared beneath his hooves and he caught hold.

On bruised and battered legs, coughing up water and shivering, Prey staggered out of the river.

He was freezing, and his waterlogged wool dragged at him as he carefully limped onto the uneven beach, dripping ears sodden. Boulders ranging from the size of Prey's head to ones as big as cottages lay jumbled all across the dirty grey sand.

Shivering, Prey hugged himself. He was cold, wet, exhausted, bruised, and stuck at the bottom of a sheer ravine.

His legs and shins especially hurt from where he'd banged them against any number of submerged rocks in the racing water, but Prey tried to push that aside for now. He was still alive.

He shook himself like a dog, trying to get rid of even some of the water. It didn't help much, he was still soaked. And cold. He'd lost his canteen at some point in the river, but water was the least of his concerns right now. Prey's eyes widened.

His hoof flew to where his ribbon should be. A sigh of relief left his mouth when he found the soggy piece of silk still there. Only then did Prey think to check if the rolled up cloth bag was still wrapped around his middle.

It was, and it was just as soaked as him, but what was inside the bag didn't matter if it got wet. Shivering, aching, and teeth beginning to chatter, Prey pulled the rolled up cloth loop over his head and shook it out.

He pulled the sopping drawstring open and shoved his hoof inside, digging right down into the bottom corner for what he sought. While doing so, he glanced nervously around the boulders and tree skeletons.

The beach felt desolate, hidden, and unsafe. This deep down the ravine, dark shadows were cast everywhere and the thick mist made outlines blurry past ten yards. The rushing river hid any sounds of approach that someone or something might've been making.

Prey's questing hoof found the lone item the soaked bag contained right at the bottom and he pulled it free. The last two remaining black seed pods. Now shivering hard enough that he almost dropped them, Prey broke open one of the pods. Water had gotten in, and the white pith inside had turned slimy, but the black seeds were just fine.

Prey threw the empty pod away and took the two seeds, swallowed the first whole and then forced himself to bite down and chew the second.

It was foul, even by Prey's standards. He gagged, and rushed to the river and washed the taste down. Then he sat on the sand, hugging his legs to himself and shivered. He looked around, but saw no sign of the others. They must've been swept past this grey boulder beach and further down the river.

Within two minutes, the seed he'd chewed up had started to kick in. An uncomfortable feeling spread out from his stomach, like he'd swallowed something bad, but it brought with it a jumpy kind of heat, and at least it helped deal with the shivering. Prey got back to his hooves, the nervous energy flushing through his legs and lending him the strength to ignore the way they twinged and shook.

'Priorities. Find some way out of the ravine. Get somewhere safe. Find shelter. Then worry about what happened to Crimson and finding and murdering the warlock.' Prey thought.

He stood back up, grey sand sticking to his wet wool and fur. He didn't bother brushing it off.

The beach was fairly narrow, no more than nine yards across at its widest point, although that could change up ahead in the obscuring mist. Prey had to pick his way across the ranging boulders, avoiding deep cracks that would twist his ankle as he picked his way over towards the ravine wall. He ducked under a twisted tree trunk, suspended where it'd jammed between two huge boulders.

Prey tried looking upwards, but although he knew he should be able to see the top of the ravine, all he could see was the grey of mist. It could be ten paces or a hundred to the top, but he didn't see any way to climb up either way. It was too steep, and in his current condition and with nothing like convenient hoofholds on the hostile face of rock, it would be basically impossible.

Prey shivered again, and paused to wring some water from the ends of his ears. His hooves were numb, but from the nervous energy of the seeds he'd eaten, not the cold. 'Well there's no getting out here. Only choice is to continue travelling on down the beach and keep looking for a way up and out.'

There had been rain clouds building up against the Ridgeback mountains for days now. It would be just typical if a freezing flash flood came roaring down the ravine to dash him to pieces against the rocks. He needed to get out of the ravine. And desperately hope the warlock didn't know some other way down here, or where this beach ended up so they could send the reaper king to wait. The warlock would come looking for bodies. They were methodical.

That golem of theirs was an utter monster. It went so far beyond the capabilities and limitations of the previous scarecrow. What they'd desperately fought so hard against back in Mayflower to survive had been nothing more than a prototype. The test model for the reaper king. The warlock had merely been perfecting their craft with the scarecrow.

And now they had a huge, unstoppable, magic wielding, undead construct capable of ripping untiringly through solid stone, created using the minds of some poor murdered villagers. The only thing the reaper King couldn't do was fly, but with the magical means of ripping any airborne opponent out of the sky, it didn't even matter.

The warlock had wanted to cover every weakness of their twisted masterpiece.

And they were sending it after Prey, hunting him down like a rabbit. Like he was nothing more than a fresh piece of quarry. If Prey found this warlock, they were dead. Dead a hundred times over.

'I'll kill you, I'll kill you, just you wait.'

Prey stopped and dropped down behind a low boulder. What was that he'd seen by the water up ahead?

Something dark, lying low, details obscured by the mist.

Prey pressed himself up close against the cold stone as he looked out again from his hiding spot.

That dark shape, lying at the lapping waters edge half in and half out, it looked like...Yes, it was a body.

Prey scuttled closer over the traitorously uneven stones, the rushing of the river picking back up as he sought to get closer. Who was it? It was darkly coloured, was it Gloom?

Prey's hooves slowed, and then came to a stop.

This wasn't Gloom. Nor was it Crimson. In fact, Prey didn't know what it was lying smashed and broken before him. Prey knew who it was supposed to be, but as to what?

Prey had no clue.

The mist parted to reveal a black, pony shaped body. But that's where the similarities ended, and not because its back half was a shattered, squashed mess of green mush and black shards.

A heavily fanged maw gaped open in a soundless snarl, a long tongue lying limp from its broken jaw. Green seeped from the cracks in its shattered head, dull, solid blue eyes sightlessly staring into eternity.

Its body looked like it was covered in some sort of black plate armour. Or like an insect's hide. Smooth, hard and glossy, like a wasp's carapace.

It had wings to match a wasp too, but what Prey's eyes gravitated towards was the twisted horn upon its head. Wings and a horn. If it weren't for the fact this twisted thing was clearly dead, Prey would've been terrified this was some sort of alicorn. That didn't mean he wasn't afraid of what he'd found. It was unknown, alien, strange, dangerous.

Prey lifted a foreleg to cover his nose. Even in the cold and wet, the sour acidic stench of the green pulped innards rose above the mist and sought to get into his lungs. It really was just like a giant cockroach.

'A cockroach. How...Fitting.' Prey recognised that battered Border Guard armour the broken thing was wearing. This was Shimmer. Or the real Shimmer.

And Prey had no idea what he was looking at.

What was it? How dangerous was it? How had it looked like a pony?

'Some kind of illusionary disguise? But I never felt any ongoing magic surrounding Shimmer. Some kind of afflicted unicorn species in hiding like the thestral clans did perhaps?'

Was the unicorn somehow turned into this by black magic? No, he'd been hit by a tonne of stone, not magic, so Shimmer had always been this...This.

Prey's face contorted in disgust. All that time, the filthy Border Guard unicorn had been even more wrong and twisted than he'd even imagined.

How many more of these things were in the Border Guard? It was a sentient monster, making it incredibly dangerous with its ability to disguise itself so well.

'I could never get past Shimmer's mental walls to read his mind. Is this why?' Prey asked himself, although he had no way of knowing.

And the hooffull of other people Prey had encountered before whose minds he also couldn't hear, did this mean they were each one of these monsters to? Prey's thoughts immediately flashed to Crimson. But no, that couldn't be true, could it?

He didn't know. There were so many nasty questions laid before him, and threats he hadn't even been aware existed.

Prey spat on the insect thing's face. No matter what it was now, it'd been masquerading as the Border Guard unicorn called Shimmer. Prey decided to dub the thing a Mimic until he learned otherwise.

Prey had no idea where this Mimic came from, what its objective had been, or what it would've done to him in the end. He only had his observations from what Shimmer had displayed, and who knew how much of that was an act?

Steeling himself, Prey grabbed a hold of the Mimic by its head and began dragging the top half of it's remains away from the water as best he could. The sour stink kicked up a notch immediately, but Prey breathed through his mouth as he wrestled the Mimic between boulders and over the rocks. The green mash of organs stayed behind.

The thing's skin was cold and hard. Looking closely, he saw lots of fine joints covering the Mimic's carapace and hinging all the smaller plates. He left a thick trail of green on the stones, which sluggishly trickled down into the cracks.

It was only a few yards, but Prey was panting hard by the time he got to a suitable crevice under a huge boulder, and his shoulders were burning with a numb pain. Those two seeds had only granted him some extra energy and fooled his body into thinking it was warm, they hadn't actually healed him in the slightest, it only felt like it.

Prey rolled the Mimic's remains into the crevice, and then went about firmly wedging it in there with rocks and driftwood. It was unlikely he'd be able to come back, but if he survived and had time, he might be able to retrieve the Mimic's body.

Prey straightened up painfully, and took a deep gulp of air. It stunk. Prey ignored that, and started picking his way down the beach again, travelling quicker than was actually safe over the slippery smooth stones.

Every minute lost was one minute closer to an untimely death, and he still hadn't seen any clues for how to get out of here yet. Boulders loomed unsettlingly in the mist ahead, each appearing as the outline of the waiting reaper king. Prey feared the beach would narrow off and come to an end before he found a way out of the ravine, and he'd be left with no choice but to re-enter the freezing river. He wasn't sure he would survive a second dip.

But the boulder beach didn't end. In fact, it kept widening, the ravine walls growing further and further apart and losing detail in the mist on either side of him.

The mist dampened all noise. Prey had expected there to be swarms of biting insects this close to the water. There were none. It was eerily silent.

Prey slowed his pace as he entered the widening beach, placing each hoof with care to prevent any hoof clops in the rocks. He was still dripping water, but he couldn't do anything about the wet trail he left. Prey tried to compensate by sticking to the large boulders for cover.

When Crimson suddenly swooped out of the mist, calling, "Prey, Gloom, anypony! Please, answer me!" Prey nearly had a heart attack as he instinctively dived beneath a scoured tree trunk. But it wasn't an enemy, just Crimson.

The red pegasus banked in the air, twisting about frantically as he searched, sending huge plumes of mist silently shooting up, "Anypony? Please answer."

Prey couldn't see Crimson's expression as he wheeled above, but his voice sounded as desperate as Prey had ever heard it. He must've been flying up and down the beach for the last quarter of an hour, trying to find anyone.

'He's scared we're dead and he's all alone.'

Crimson flapped further up the beach, passing almost right over Prey's hiding spot, calling uselessly into the mist, "Scenic, are you out there? Gloom sir?"

Prey was about to step out and join back up with Crimson. But he stopped before he left the tree trunk's shadow.

'Hang on, why should I?'

If Crimson was so worried about him, then he shouldn't have trusted Shimmer, or Lilly, or gone into the Wolfing Woods, or any of the other dumb things he'd done to throw Prey's life into jeopardy. Why should Prey rejoin Crimson?

'Because I owe him?'

It was a question. Did he still owe Crimson? He'd be better off doing this himself and going it alone. Prey knew how to fight solo, how to lay traps and hide in the shadows to pick off his enemies one at a time.

'I could fight this warlock better by myself.'

In a few seconds Crimson would be gone; "Anypony? Anybody?"

Prey winced. It would hurt Crimson, but it was for the best. It's not like he was running away, since he couldn't with the tracer bands still on him, and Luna would never know he'd deliberately split off from the others.

'If the others even survived the river, that is.'

Wait. If Crimson kept flying up the river, he'd find the Mimic's body Prey had stashed. Crimson's special talent let him scent even the smallest traces of blood. There was no way he could miss the smashed open Mimic, even if the blood was green and alien. A flash of panic jumped through Prey's chest, 'He can't know that I also know about Mimics!'

"Crimson!" The faint rasping shout drifted out of the mist, back from the way Crimson had come.

Crimson spun around in the air, "Who's there?" He shouted back in hope.

"It's me Gloom. I've got Scenic here with me." Gloom's faint voice drifted out of the mist again, sounding strained and bone weary.

"I'm on my way sir." Crimson called, stooping forwards in the air and speeding back the way he'd come, in less than a heartbeat vanishing in a swirl of grey mist.

'Gloom and Scenic also both survived the river?' Prey thought with some shock, 'Odds were at least one of us should've drowned.'

That didn't mean Gloom or Scenic had survived without injury though.

But this was his chance! Crimson would be too busy occupied helping Gloom and Scenic to keep searching for him. Prey could slip quietly away.

'Except I'll still be trapped here in this ravine either way.' Prey thought dully.

Prey knew the ravine walls had to eventually open and level off, allowing him to climb out, in fact the steep walls were already starting to do just that. The question was, would this strip of beach stretch as far as that? If the beach ended before the ravine also ended, then Prey would be forced to re-enter the dark water. And a second time would just be suicide.

'I'll be trapped down here.'

Prey was better off by himself, he knew that without any doubt. It was the way it'd always been.

But...But Crimson could fly. He could get out of the ravine at any point, and with the magic of his jade necklace, he could carry Scenic and Gloom up one at a time even if both were too injured to move from the fall.

Crimson could...carry Prey up too?

'No!' Prey recoiled from the very idea of anyone ever touching him, even Crimson. The mere thought was repugnant. Even the memory of those insensate fools thinking he must be some touch starved foal filled him with revulsion.

'No. No way, no how.'

Even in a life or death situation such as this, trying to mentally prepare himself to let anyone touch him made Prey feel physically sick, his stomach roiling, 'No. No no nope no.'

But the mist, the reaper king, the warlock, him being trapped down here, the Mimic and what had happened with the Wolf Wood, all of that...

Prey's head slowly turned to the side and he stared up into the grey mist. Somewhere above, the ravine's edge lay.

*........thump...thump...* Softly getting louder, and closer.

The warlock had not trusted gravity and the river to finish the job. They'd sent the reaper king to follow and make sure. And Crimson and Gloom's shouts just now had drawn its attention through the mist.

*Thump*