//------------------------------// // Breathe // Story: Wind and Stone // by Ruirik //------------------------------// “How are you faring, Iron?” Rain looked over at Senator Celsus, dragging her attention away from the map of Cirra spread over the conference table. The old officer’s mess from Fort Updraft repurposed into an impromptu war room by the Senator and his staff who buzzed about the room with papers, dispatches, and a variety of other tasks. Rain was assured that every word they said was vital, though given how inactive she and the surviving Nimban Militia had been since the city fell, she wasn’t too convinced of the fact. Rain shrugged her wings. “Tolerable.” Discentus chuckled. “Well, you’ll need to be better than that for what is to come.” “And what is that, Discentus?” Rain asked, months of exasperation revealing themselves in her exasperated tone. “All we’ve done since Nimbus is fall further and further back!” She sighed and rubbed her eyes on her fetlock. “We can’t keep giving ground like this. We’ve already lost half our territory, including all of the eastern farmland. If this war lasts more than a year we’ll be starved out. We need to do something. We need to attack.” “Emperor Haysar agrees,” Discentus said, leaning forward and pressing his front hooves together. “Which is why I asked you here.” Rain’s eyebrows shot up to her mane line. “Nimbus is getting back into the fight?” “In a sense,” he said, pointing to the map to draw her attention. Her eyes followed his hoof to a triangle mark drawn in faded black ink. The lettering above the shape read ‘Feathertop’. “Feathertop?” Rain asked, “That mountain’s in the middle of nowhere. What could--” “Patience, Iron,” Discentus said, holding up his wing to silence her. “Emperor Haysar has ordered a national draft. Every possible pony is being called to arms and ordered to Feathertop. From there,” he slid his hoof east along the map to where three red-painted wood rectangles were placed in formation. “We will launch the largest attack in Cirran history. The Legion will roll the Griffon formation back towards Nimbus and force the hybrids to scatter.” “So sheer brute force,” Rain said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully then chuckled. “How Nimban of Cirra.” “Desperate times, Iron,” Discentus said, his tone more grim. “Where do I take the Militia? We won’t be assigned to a different Legate, will we?” “You are not going to Feathertop,” Discentus was definitive in his statement. “You and what is left of the Nimban Militia will have a different assignment.” “If not fighting on the front then what in Garuda’s name are we doing?” Rain demanded, slamming her hoof on the table with enough force to leave a crack in the surface. “The Militia is ready. I’ve had them drilling every single Gods damned day for months!” She snarled as she leaned forward. “Discentus, you can’t ask me to tell them to stay back from the greatest battle in our history. They’d sooner hang then live with the shame of that.” “Discipline, Iron,” the aging senator reprimanded her in a gentle tone. “You will take the Militia to the rear of the griffon lines. Scouts will show you where to place your troops when the time is right. Once the Legion has struck the griffon front you strike them from the flank or rear. I of course leave it to your discretion in the field where you feel your attack will cause the most damage.” Iron Rain stared at the map in silence.  “When do we move out?” The old stallion shrugged. “Haysar intends to lead the Legion at Feathertop personally. I expect he won’t arrive until the last of the reserves are mustered. Perhaps a couple of weeks yet.” “Why so long?” “It takes time to armor and equip so many raw recruits,” he said with a frown. “Gods only knows how quickly they’re being trained. I expect most will barely know how to hold their swords.” “What about the First Legion?” “The First never leaves Stratopolis. You know this as well as anypony, Iron.” Rain scoffed. “What good is a knife if you won’t use it?”  “If Magnus divides his forces and manages to strike at Stratopolis, the First will be needed to hold the city until reinforcements can arrive.” Discentus paused as an aid passed him several sheets of parchment. His eyes danced over the lines of writing with a practised mask of neutrality. “It took some convincing with Haysar to allow the Nimban forces to move freely behind the line. Gold Moon is, of course, against it.” “I’d wager he is,” Rain chuckled. “I’m sure we’re quite the wrench in his well greased war machine.” “Indeed, and quite perfectly indeed it seems to have performed so far..” His expression soured and for a moment Rain thought she saw a hint of anger in the Senator’s eyes. “Gold Moon’s leadership has lost Nimbus and nominal control of half of Cirra. And now in desperation with the Senate breathing down his neck he seeks to put all of our power into one mighty strike.” “Clumsy, even for Gold Moon.” “Indeed. And it is entirely possible for this attack to fail. I don’t trust so many untested troops on the front all at once. They lack the resolve of more disciplined soldiers. I convinced the Emperor to allow you to move behind Magnus’s line. Draw as many of his troops as you can away from his army and if practicable force them into a prolonged guerilla campaign.” He smiled a bit and put his wing over her shoulder. “Perhaps you’ll even be so lucky as to ambus Magnus himself. Kill him and the war is over.” Rain shivered at the prospect. “Nothing would make me happier.” Discentus nodded and smiled to her. “Very good. Keep your troops drilling, and for the moment keep this information to yourself. If there are any hybrid scouts in the area we don’t want them reporting back that a major troop movement has started.” “We will be ready,” Rain promised. “I only need the word and we can be on the wing in ten minutes.” “Excellent. Now, to the matter of the wounded…” Rain and Summer walked from the camp mess towards where her command tent was set up. Summer had two bowls of soup balanced on her left wing while Rain carried a third. The sun was starting to set over the horizon, and the air was still with a monotonous languor. Stallions and mares wandered through the refugee camp, some in armor, others wrapped in blankets to stave off the autumn chill.  “We got some fresh bandages from the Capital today,” Summer said, careful not to spill the soups on her wing as she stepped over a pothole. “I’ll change Finder’s bandages tomorrow if you’re up to it.” “Yeah, sure,” Rain said, though her attention was far from her companion. Summer’s expression grew puzzled at the distant tone in Rain’s voice. “What’s up, Rain? You’re head’s in the clouds today.” Rain shook her head. “It’s nothing. Just some things I have to think about for the next movement.” “Father told me,” Summer said with just the barest hint of a grin. “It’ll be good to get back in action again. Better to fight then slowly starve on the run.” “Yeah.” “Alright, now you must be feverish,” Summer said with a playful grin. “The Iron Rain I knew would be giddy over the fight we’ve got coming.” Rain rolled her eyes. “I’m plenty excited for a fight. It’s just...different with what our mission is.” “How so? You’ve commanded the militia before.” Rain shook her head. “I’ve commanded the storm and marshalled the Militia, but Father always was in charge. All I’ve done is command them to run away.” “Hey,” Summer offered a reassuring smile to the younger mare. “You’re Katagaismos. More than that we know you, Iron. Nopony else could have held us together after Nimbus fell.” Rain scoffed. “If you insist.” “Insist I shall,” Summer grinned at Rain. “Just like I insist you’d make a good nurse.” “Oh fuck off,” Rain laughed. “Don’t deny it, you like taking care of the kid,” Summer teased with a laugh, enduring a stiff smack on her shoulder. “What? It’s cute!” “I will kill you in your sleep.” “Rain, do you have a cruuuush?”  “I will murder you with a gods damned axe.” “Rain and Finder sitting in a tree, F-U-CK-I-N-OW!” Rain’s eye twitched as she smacked Summer on the back of the head again. “Not everypony has their brain under their tail like you, Summer.” The smaller mare stuck her tongue out at Rain. “Just observing the obvious.” “Then your eyes are shit,” she growled. “There’s no time for that.” Summer was giggling, but wisely held her tongue as the two arrived at Rain’s tent. Rain knocked on the post twice, then pushed through the canvas door, holding it open for Summer. Both mares noticed Pathfinder shivering in bed, his face contorted with pain. Rain gritted her teeth as her chest felt pained at the sight.  “Finder?” she called to him gently, unsure if he was awake. Then again, he wasn’t screaming or hyperventilating, so chances were he wasn’t sleeping.  As she suspected, two golden eyes fluttered open, though they were squinted with the same tension that flooded his body. Rain noticed the colt set his jaw and heard him try to force his discomfort back. It made her expression soften and drew the corner of her mouth ever so slightly upwards.  Summer moved quickly towards the cot, carefully setting down her two bowls of soup and putting a hoof on the colt’s forehead. “You’re still feverish,” she said, frowning. “I tried really hard,” Finder said, his left eye squeezed shut as it’s partner looked up at her. “Well try less hard, you’re gonna make me get gray mane early.” Rain noted, silently, the irony in the sentiment. Pathfinder’s brown mane was speckled with silver hairs after the Hell he’d endured in the prison camp. “How’s your foreleg working?” Finder winced and managed to lift his left foreleg a few inches, but couldn’t seem to bring it any higher. Even that comparatively small motion seemed to cause him considerable effort in both energy and agony.  “Don’t push it too hard,” Summer said, careful to pat his right shoulder. “The muscles got pretty shredded. It’s likely to take a long time to heal right.” “Summer...Do you think I’ll fly again?” he asked after a moment, his words whispered with a frightened softness.  Rain noticed the way Summer’s eyes grew wider for just an instant and the tight lines that formed at the corners of her lips. She swallowed and seemed to be choosing her words carefully. The pause didn’t go unnoticed by Pathfinder. His lower lip trembled, but no tears came. Eventually he sunk his head down seemingly in resignation of a foregone conclusion that his life in the skies was at an end. “Of course you’ll fly,” Rain said with a grin that would defy the Gods themselves. “I’d wager my left wing on it.” There was no missing the glare Summer leveled at her, but it was worth it for the way Finder’s eyes brightened and hope seemed to return to him. Rain found herself smiling back at the younger pony. She only hoped she wasn’t lying to him. He’d had enough heartbreak for a lifetime. It was the duty of the Rain’s to shield the innocent from the pains of war. They had failed this colt once, and for whatever it was worth Iron swore to herself she wouldn’t fail him again. She owed him that much. Encouraged, Pathfinder managed to open his wings about halfway before he bit back a yelp. She could see the atrophied muscles quivering under ruffled green feathers. Each feather looked ragged and oily. Rain was almost disgusted with the younger pony’s slovenly appearance until she remembered he couldn’t preen himself. It was impossible with his wings and side as they were. “Here, kid,” Summer said, sitting down next to him and letting him lean against her side in support. “Lets get some soup into you, okay? You’re going nowhere fast if you don’t get your strength back.” Finder nodded making a grunt as she slid a hoof around his chest to help get him upright. Rain sat on his opposite side and picked up a bowl of soup. Slowly she fed him while Summer held him, occasionally giving him water between spoons. At the end of his meal the three shared a glug of wine. Finder coughed from the strong burn of alcohol with a bit of wine dribbling down his chin. Rain leaned forward and gently wiped it clean with her fetlock, a gesture that earned a barely muted snicker from Summer and a blush from Pathfinder. “So, kid,” Summer said after helping him back down and taking a soup for herself. “Do anything fun today?” Finder simply made a shrug. “I was looking at those maps for a while,” he pointed to the pile of old canvas maps Rain had left next to the bed. “You like maps?” Rain asked. He nodded and smiled again. “I got my mark after drafting a map of the shoreline and reefs from Altus to the open sea, including safe routes through the reef.” “What’s a reef?” Rain asked.  For once it was Pathfinder’s turn to stare at her like she’d grown a second head. “It’s a reef, you know? It’s the super sharp rocks or sandbars just under the water that can really tear up the hull of a boat. Sometimes a storm can pull the boats into them too. We lose a lot of fish when that happens.” Rain was silent for a minute, simply blinking and staring at Pathfinder. The colt had a confused expression on his face, and looked over to Summer who was equally as muted as Rain. “What?” “We’ve um…” Summer paused, squirming in awkward fashion for a minute before shoving a spoonful of soup into her mouth for a convenient pause.  “We’ve never been to the ocean,” Rain said through burning cheeks. “I didn’t know there were reefs.” “There’s some really nasty ones about a mile off-shore,” Pathfinder said, the conversation making him happy, but a bit homesick as well. “And since you can’t always see them at high tide I thought a map would really help.” “How long did it take you?” Rain asked. Finder paused as he thought about it for a moment. “Um....about a day to fly around and find all of them, then a few hours to draw it and mark the safe passages.” Rain and Summer exchanged a quick glance before Rain spoke again. “How many miles is this map?” “Um, roughly twenty miles of coastline. I thought just in case there was a storm or rough seas near Altus we should have alternate routes.” “Huh,” Rain clucked her tongue. “How old were you?” Finder managed a slight shrug, though even that motion made his face get tense. “Um, five or six, I think? I don’t really remember.” Rain’s right eyebrow met her maneline briefly. “You covered that amount of territory at five or six, and recorded it with geographic accuracy?” The way she and Summer stared at him made the colt squirm uncomfortably. Heat blossomed behind forest green cheeks and he risked another shrug in spite of the pain it caused him. “It wasn’t a big deal. I just...flew and drew. Oh!” He paused and leaned over a little, just managing to point his hoof at the desk where Rain’s books and a few other papers were scattered about. “I drew Nimbus too. Top paper.” Skeptical, but curious, Rain stood up and made her way over to her desk. It was impossible to miss the Nimban map on top of the stack. What shocked her, enough to bring her wing to cover the gasp that escaped her mouth, was how good it was. The city was drawn top down, each level drawn to scale with every single building marked and districts separated by dotted lines. There were no names to the districts, at least no names Rain could read. Finder’s grasp of writing was about as poor as his reading skills were so far. Instead he’d marked them with little pictures: a hammer for the smithing district, swords for guard houses, little shields for armories, a fish for the market, and so on. Rain made a mental note to work writing with him too. Summer wandered over as well, her soup bowl held in her wing which she slurped from loudly. Rain gave her a brief glance, then turned her attention to the map again.  “Holy shit,” Summer gasped. “Is it bad?” Finder asked  “Kid,” Summer piped in, putting her emptied soup bowl down. “It takes the best scouts years to get that good, and half of them can’t draw for shit.” “What’s this stick figure you drew from the Palace to the forum?” Rain asked. “He’s sneaking,” came the obvious answer. “Sneaking where?” Rain asked. “Well, the column’s on the south side of the forum near the reservoir were set apart wider than all the rest of the columns, same on the other side,” Pathfinder explained. “And when Dawn was showing me around there was a really slight hump in the road between the Forum and the reservoir. The reservoir connects to the water system for the whole city, so I figured given the line that there was a passage from the palace to the reservoir, which then made an escape route for anypony in the palace to any drainage port along the cloudstone platform.” Pathfinder’s ears folded back a little. “A-at least that’s my guess.” Rain stared at the map with a dumbfounded expression. It must have been obvious enough that Summer took notice.  “Iron?” “There was a network of secret passages built into the palace a few hundred years ago when Lightning Rain took the throne.” Iron explained with something of a chuckle. “She hated being the Legate of Nimbus, and wanted a way to slip out at night to go walk the city like any normal pony. Later, during the Social War, when Sleeting Rain was killed, her family was smuggled out through the tunnels to safety before Cirran assassins could kill her foals. Thanks to those tunnels the line of Katagaismos continues.” Summer nodded in understanding, and Iron chewed on her lower lip for a moment. “You figured all that out…” she turned to stare at Pathfinder. “Just from a walk?”  Pathfinder squirmed again and shook his head. “Um...well, not quite. We flew a lot of laps around Nimbus too. I just...you know, paid attention.” Both Rain and Summer’s eyebrow’s shot straight up.  “Where was the Agora in Nimbus from the smithy?” Rain asked. “Upper ring, ten blocks past the guard house, left at the square with the big statues, and at the end of that path.” “I’ll be damned,” Summer leaned back a bit and chuckled. “You have an eidetic memory or something, kid?” “A what memory?” “Some pony’s just remember everything they see. Don’t have to write it down or anything. Ask ‘em twenty years later to describe the weather on a Monday and they can, right down to the last detail.” Summer explained. “Pretty handy gift to have, if you ask me.” Finder shuddered. “I don’t want it.” Rain caught herself before the horrible question of ‘why?’ escaped her lips. Summer seemed to catch on just as quickly, and both mares hurried to change the subject.  “Can I get you some more soup, Finder?” Summer asked. Finder didn’t answer at first. Instead his eyes were staring blankly at the flickering candle in front of him. It took Rain only a second to realize that they had accidentally triggered a flashback. She sprung up quickly and moved to the cot, putting her hoof on Finder’s shoulder and getting her head down eye level with his own. “Finder, Finder! Look at me!” her tone was firm, commanding, and it it snapped his eyes to hers as he seemingly fell back into the present. She saw tears welling in his eyes, though he was quick to blink them away. “It’s alright. You’re here now. It’s me and Summer. You’re safe.” “I...I k-know…” he said with trembling, measured, breaths. “Sorry, I...I…” “It’s okay, kid.” Summer put a hoof on his back and gently massaged the fur and flesh. “Need some wine?” Rain shot Summer a glare, but Pathfinder simply nodded. “Yes… Please,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. Summer looked at Rain who could only manage a sad sigh. She closed her eyes for a moment, lips closed in a long line as she stood up. The bottle was where Summer had left it between them and Rain took hold of it and popped off the cork top. A moment later she was holding it to Finder’s lips, watching with a peculiar ache in her heart as two good gulps vanished down the colt’s throat. She pulled it away after the second mouthful and recorked the bottle. Once it was set aside she turned her attention to Summer. “Summer, why don’t you go get him a little extra soup and some more water. We’ll change his bandages when you get back.” The medicus nodded. “You need anything?” “No, thank you.” Rain waited for Summer to leave, then counted in her head for a few moments to make sure she was out of earshot. Only then did she allow herself a sigh and return her attention to Pathfinder. He avoided her gaze, his eyes downcast in a manner she knew all too well was shame. Slowly, and with a gentleness that she rarely displayed, Rain put a hoof under his chin and drew his attention back up to her.  “Kid…” she sighed, letting her shoulders sag a little. “Finder. Look… I know I’m not...you know...good at this stuff,” she paused, cursing the blush in her cheeks. “But if you ever need to talk to anypony, I’m here for you, alright? Summer too. We all…” she paused a moment, her teeth rolling the soft flesh of her lower lip between upper and lower rows. “We all just want to help you.” Finder smiled, though unlike his earlier expression which had been mirthful, this bore only sorrow. “I’ve already been too much trouble.” Rain’s right wing extended and she flicked the tip of his nose with a primary feather before folding it again. “None of that, understood?” He gulped once. “Yes ma’am.” Taking a breath, Iron Rain contemplated the young stallion laying in his cot. The gashes in his face and on his neck were healing well with the scabs starting to fall away and reveal red scar tissue underneath. His mane and tail were graying, but he still looked young in spite of it. Summer was right. He would be an especially handsome stallion in a year or two. Rain had to force herself not to violently shake her head as she banished the idea from her mind. “Come on,” She said, walking over to the desk. She bit the spine of the book she’d been working through with him and trotted back to the cot. Rain laid the book out in front of Finder, using her wing to open it up to the page she’d marked with a feather she’d lost while preening. She laid in the cot next to Pathfinder, and pointed to the top of the page where they’d left off. “Let’s see if we can get you reading as good as you can draw, eh?” Pathfinder took a breath, then nodded. His eyes focused on the page, the thick lines of black ink that painted the pressed fibers. Rain draped her left wing over his back giving him a reassuring hug for encouragement. “Th-thuus he s… spoke, and M-M...Mer….Mersor… Mersyoury” “Mercury,” Rain said, her voice soft as a morning breeze.  “Mercury,” Finder repeated, feeling his cheeks burn as her primary feather moved to the next word. “Guide and g… g…” Pathfinder groaned and rubbed his hooves across his face. “I’ll never learn to read,” he moaned, earning a gentle smack on the back of his head from Rain. “If I can learn then Gods be damned you can,” she teased, though she couldn’t help but smile. “Just… sound it out. Take your time. Reading’s not a race.” Pathfinder nodded again. Rain listened to him sound out his way through the book. The words faded into the recesses of her mind as she considered what was to come. How soon before Haysar’s preparations were made? How soon would she move out for the front? How soon would she see Pathfinder again, if ever? Why… Why did that make her heart ache? Iron Rain gritted her teeth while her wing held the younger pony gently. She forced those thoughts away for the moment. There would be time enough for the war later. For tonight she would allow herself this one small comfort.