//------------------------------// // 95 - Return of the Prince // Story: Age of Kings // by A bag of plums //------------------------------// “Posey, what do your eagle’s eyes see?” Emerald Edge and the rest of the questors were lying atop a sand dune, waiting for Gabriel to return from a fly-over of Masyaf. The brown eagle landed on the archer’s arm, then began screeching to her. “Morn’s men have set up an armory in the east, just before the palace walls,” Posey translated, which Emerald still didn’t know how she could do. “There are patrols moving up and down the streets, groups of twos or threes. As for Morn, he’s still in the palace. I think he is looking for you, Em.” “How many of my soldiers have been swayed to this foul invader’s side?” Prince Sombra growled. “Emerald Edge. Can you reverse whatever evil magic Morn Dread has cast on my people?” “Tis not evil magic,” Emerald amended, looking at the Apple in her hand. “But it is being channeled towards a very dark purpose.” “I do not care,” Sombra said brusquely. “Can you save my soldiers? If we can, it would go a long way toward reclaiming the city.” Emerald chewed her tongue before answering. “I believe I can win back the minds of your soldiers. What I do not understand is how Morn is able to use Excalibur so well. The artifacts respond best when used for the purposes of goodness and friendship. This is anything but. It puzzles me.” “It does not matter. What matters if you remove him. My father must be avenged.” Emerald nodded grimly as Nightfall Gleam passed her a spyglass. The gates to the town and palace were all heavily defended, but they still had to let people come and go to collect water and crops from the surrounding farmlands. “A full on charge don’t seem like it’ll work,” Golden Nugget observed. “It’d be foolish ta try.” “Why not, Pa?” Honeygold asked. “Em has that Apple. Can’t she just va-va-vapororaise them?” “Because we still want to save Prince Sombra’s people,” Apple Bean explained. “They’ve been canoodled by Excalibur and don’t know what they’re doin’. If we just kill ‘em, we won’t have a chance to bring ‘em back to our side.” “Em, can’t ya just fly over to Morn and get ‘im?” The young farmer girl turned to Emerald. “Ya can just fly past all of Prince Sombra’s people.” “But if she did that, Em would be surrounded on all sides by mind-controlled Saddle Arabians and Knights,” Spectrum pointed out. “Besides, I wouldn’t hold it past Morn’s people to fight dirty and involve the civilians. As far as I am concerned, he is a chivalrous knight no longer.” “In any case, it’s probably better to help the soldiers whose minds have been taken over,” Posey said. “That way we will have more people to help us fight, should a fight break out.” Emerald’s eye was fixed on the small stream of people coming in and out of the city. The guards did not seem to molest them, and let them through, carrying jugs of water and bundles of crops. She had an idea. “We’re gonna go right through the front gates.” Emerald grinned.  “Huh? How?” The questors looked at Emerald curiously. “Just leave it to me,” Emerald turned to Jewel Pin. “And a keen bit of tailoring.” Emerald pulled their tents from their packs and began shearing them apart with her hidden blade. She guessed they wouldn’t need their tents for the time being, so they could always get new ones once they helped Sombra kick Morn out. “Oh, I get it!” Jewel Pin exclaimed. She took out her tailoring scissors and began to help Emerald cut up the tents. Jewel Pin began stitching and sewing up the tent pieces into new garments that they could throw over their shoulders. It was like a cloak, scarf and headpiece all in one. “These can hide our faces. As long as we don’t say anything, they shan’t suspect a thing,” Jewel Pin said happily. “And they are stylish too, are they not?” “Oooh, disguises!” Parisa nodded excitedly. “We’re going to blend right in!” “You Canterlotians just leave the speaking to Parisa and myself.” Sombra slipped the garb on and pulled the scarf up to mask his lower face. “Not a word.” “Schtum.” Spectrum pulled at her lips. In only a short time, the rest of the disguises were finished. The questors put them on, transforming them into Saddle Arabian peasants. Emerald grasped the Apple in her sleeve. Hopefully she would be able to undo some of the guards’ mind control as they passed. The trek down from the dune to the town gates didn’t take too long, but there was a line forming at the gates due to the inspection and they soon found themselves having to wait for their turn. It seemed that most of the humans waiting to enter the city were merchants and Emerald watched as a woman in front with crates and crates of grapes was allowed in. “Do we have anything to convince them we’re merchants?” Spectrum asked around her group. “Ain’t got anymore apples to sell.” Golden Nugget shook his head. “Though Ah’m sure them Saddle Arabians would love ‘em. Avalon apples are the best apples in the world.” “Hold up,” Light Speckle said. She took out the maps and a couple of strange tools. “We can say that we are cartographers.” Honeygold scratched her head. “What’s a cart… uh, cart-orc-crafter again? Sounds like them orcs up in the North are makin’ some craftin’.” “Map makers,” Nightfall said quietly. “They travel the lands, making charts of the demenses and of landmarks.” Honeygold looked confused again. “Now what’s a demonsus?” “Territories.” “What’s a-” “Ah think we’ll explain more to ya when we’ve the time and place, dear.” Apple Bean stopped the young girl from asking more. Up ahead, the next merchant was being inspected, but it didn’t look like things were going well with him. “Potatoes? You call these potatoes?” The guard asked in a rather monotone voice, seeing as they were mind-controlled. “Please, kind sir, I have traveled all the way from the Kingdom of Prance.” The man was rubbing his hands together nervously. “I can assure you it is the best produce of the Prench lands.” The guard picked up one, but once he took a sniff at it, he made a disgusted face and tossed it aside. Emerald quietly wondered how a potato merchant from Prance had made it all the way over the mountains and across the desert to Masyaf. With a cart full of potatoes, no less. “Get rid of this cart.” The guards tipped their spears under the wheels and knocked it on its side so the next merchant could be inspected. “Mon patates!” the man cried and dove down to save his potatoes as they began rolling down a slope. Emerald gulped. Perhaps it wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought. But then again, they had the Apple. Perhaps it would be even easier than they had thought. “Next!” the guards called out. “Let’s keep it moving!” Emerald’s group finally arrived at the guards after seven more merchants, with the one right before them having been denied entry. Nightfall and Speckle stood at the front of their group with Sombra and Parisa speaking on their behalf. Emerald crossed her fingers as the prince and the dancer talked to the guards. They spoke rapidly in Saddle Arabian, gesturing back to the rest of the party. Finally, the guard nodded and stood aside for them to pass. As they brushed past the guards, Emerald tightened her fingers around the Apple. There was a faint glimmer of light and something above the guards’ heads flashed and shattered like glass. One of the newly freed Saddle Arabian guards rubbed at his head, his eyes spinning in their sockets. Once they were deeper in the city, the group squeezed into a more empty street to talk.  “I think I have liberated the gate guards,” Emerald proclaimed. “Tis not a hard thing to do.” “O’ ‘course not, Em. You’ve got that Equestrian magic!” Honeygold said happily. “I only hope that Morn Dread does not notice us taking back my soldiers,” Prince Sombra said warily. “We do not want to lose the element of surprise.” “I do not think he will notice,” Light Speckle pulled her hood down to get some air. “After all, there must be hundreds of Saddle Arabian guards and soldiers he has taken over. Even he cannot watch over every one of them all the time.” “And not without tiring himself out for nothing...” Emerald surmised. Morn was human, after all. He wasn’t supposed to be able to use the artifact to this potential. Emerald was already surprised at how long he was keeping this up compared to Dawn Saber, but even he wouldn’t be able to go on forever. She gambled Morn would only be watching through the eyes of his soldiers should he sense the need to. They should be fine if they didn’t attract attention. Sense… That was something else that worried her. Morn always knew when she was around. If she got close, their element of surprise would be gone. When that time came, she would have to finish it before he could do anything else. Sombra cleared his throat “In any case, we will begin our approach to the palace, liberating as many of my people as we can. Should a battle break out, it will be good to have troops of our own.” “Agreed,” Posey nodded. She looked up, where Gabriel was circling above in the cloudless sky. “We will take the route that has the most guards, then.” “Ah’ve my beatin’ stick should the need arise.” Golden Nugget held his broken staff in his hand. “A good club to the head should sort anyone out.” Leaving the street, the questors cautiously wound around the crowds of Saddle Arabians and toward the central palace. They passed more guards on the way, all of whom Emerald used the Apple on to remove Morn’s grip on their minds. There was no sign of any soldiers from Canterlot, which puzzled Emerald. Where had they all gone? They couldn’t all possibly be in the palace, could they? The guards were all still dazed after their minds were returned to them and Emerald’s group left them to recover while they carried on. They couldn’t wait for them to regain their senses before taking them along. When the time came, hopefully they would be ready to do battle. In short, it was an easy walk straight to the palace gates. They met no resistance and they had managed to turn every guard they came across. Once the ones at the gate had been dealt with, it was just a matter of getting through the portcullis. Emerald used the power of the Apple to control one of the guards to open it before releasing him. She didn’t like taking away someone’s freedom to act. It was as though she was biting into a bitter apple. It just didn’t sit well with her. “This seems… almost too easy,” Spectrum said quietly. “Nobody’s tried to stop us, and it doesn’t seem like Morn Dread even knows anything is wrong.” “Isn’t that a good thing?” Guard Streak asked her. Emerald shook her head and narrowed her eyes. “The easy path stops here. Once we get close enough, Morn will know we are coming. He always does.” “And that’s when you’re gonna blaze right through to him, yes?” Spectrum tapped on her sword at her side. “And we’ll be right there to help you, Em.” The towering sandstone palace loomed above, casting the group in deep shadow of the afternoon sun. “If we enter through the front, Morn will see us coming for sure,” Sombra said grimly. “But there are a few other, less obvious ways into the palace. We can take the path in through the stables. Follow me.” As they walked on, Emerald thought about the coming fight and she raised her hand to stop her group. “I think it is best if I carry on alone. Morn has Excalibur. Only I will be able to stop him. For the rest of you to remain unharmed, I must proceed alone.” “Emerald!” Jewel Pin exclaimed. “We cannot possibly let you go to face that brute alone. What if you need help?” The spymaster held up the Apple. “Tis what I have this for. Morn cannot win should I use the full extent of the artifacts of Star Swirl the Bearded.” “But what if he has more than one?” Light Speckle fretted. “We do not know what kind of power balance that would create.” Emerald looked at her reflection in the Apple. “The artifacts are of my world. I will triumph. I know it. No matter how many Morn has, he will never have what powers these. True friendship and the will to do what is needed to protect the ones you love. I can do this. Believe in me. I cannot have you all harmed as I face him.” She felt like she was trying to convince herself more than her friends, and she was pretty sure some of them knew it. Sombra coughed to get their attention. “Whatever happens, Emerald Edge, I must ask that you deliver justice and retribution on this king for slaying my father. The royal blood of Saddle Arabia must be avenged!” “Yes, yes, I shall remove Morn for you and you can have your kingdom back.” Emerald nodded. “I shall come along.” Sombra placed a hand atop his scimitar. “The djinn have granted me their power. I shall direct you through the palace and aid you should it be necessary.” Emerald hesitated, but reason told her that two stood a better chance against one, and this might be a good chance to see what the djinn powers worked like. Just in case she needed to fight Prince Sombra once this was all over. “Then we shall await your safe return.” Nightfall pulled up a crate and sat down on it. “End this, Emerald.” “Yes, Em. Teach ‘em who the real ‘questrian is.” Honeygold punched the air. “Come, we can talk later.” Sombra was already by the stables. “We must take my kingdom back.” Emerald turned back to her friends and nodded. “I will not let you down. Stay put, I shan’t be long.”