30. The Tower of Ahgairon
After such an considerably intensive encounter following a long night of traveling, there was nothing the exhausted party want more than to just throw themselves on the ground and sleep the day away. Alas, there was much that still had to be done before their rest could commence. The area needed securing in case the surviving slavers found the courage to return, the more severe wounds had to be dressed to ensure they would not become life threatening, and then there was still a discussion to be had with the former prisoners regarding their immediate future.
And so, instead of getting some well deserved rest and relaxation, the group got busy. Rarity went back to the mares and foals trapped behind the wagons, and Alharir, once she became convinced that her husband would be fine on his own and wouldn’t just keel over the second she left him, joined her in pushing a few of the carts aside to create an opening in the makeshift fence. Tariq, looking much better after Biala laid his hooves on his bruised and broken body, kept an eye out for trouble while Steel Nerves returned to their covered wagon and their supplies to bring everything to their new location and Biala Diyn entered the slavers’ tent to make sure there weren’t anymore massive minotaurs hiding inside.
The captives were a little more receptive to Rarity and Alharir and their comforting promises of safety, but they remained guarded and quiet up until Biala Diyn exited the tent with a ring of keys and then got to work undoing the shackles around their legs. When the last chain slipped off the last mare, there was a moment of silence before a loud, jubilant cry rang out and filled the air. Without warning, Rarity, Alharir, and Biala were hit by wave after unstoppable wave of tearful hugs and words of unending thanks. Rarity, being so much smaller than the others and those trying to show their appreciation, could only credit her personal experiences with Pinkie Pie’s backbreaking group hugs as to why her body wasn’t completely pulverized. Neither Tariq nor even Steel Nerves were safe as they too were eventually swept up in the celebration, which led to Tariq in his current weakened condition nearly collapsing from all of the heavy embracing and Steel suddenly finding himself weighed down by a pair of brave foals who had latched themselves to his legs when he had returned to the camp.
Once things had settled down and they finished cleaning up the bodies, relieving them of what few valuables there were, it was decided after some deliberation that the newly liberated would be coming with them to the schools of magic. Like Steel had pointed out, they couldn’t be sure that this ragtag group of beaten and battered mares and children would last in the desert on their own, and even with their numbers and armed with the weapons their slavers had left behind, it didn’t seem like this group could defend the oasis if the survivors of the defeated gang managed to regroup and return. The other option would have been to escort the group back to their homes, but there were so many differing origins that they had representatives from nearly half a dozen separate towns and villages across the region, and Tariq and Alharir were unwilling to make such an extreme detour, a sentiment Rarity herself had to agree with, albeit with reluctance.
There had been some uncertainty as to whether they‘d be able to support such an increase in their numbers, but after taking all of the bandits’ supplies into account, along with a couple of large chests full of expensive silverware and miscellaneous articles made of gold and several bags full of small silver squares that they found in the minotaur’s personal quarters, making sure every creature here was properly fed and watered became a nonissue. As for the horses in question, the formerly enslaved spoke amongst themselves for a little while before an elected spokemare approached. They understood the decision that Rarity’s group had made and agreed to go with them but requested that they be brought home or at least to the nearest city once the business at the schools was concluded, a request the party had no problem accepting. A larger group meant more protection after all, even if none of their addition was exactly combat ready, and if having more creatures with them to keep watch during the day led to shorter watch shifts, well, no one here was going to complain about that.
With that all concluded, it was time to eat. They had simple meal of bread, dates, and those dried ration sticks, but their new companions dug in ravenously and with such gusto an onlooker might have assumed that they were feasting on the most delicious foods the world had to offer. Shifts were then assigned by Biala to the rest of the group while, and after the meal had settled, it was bedtime for who were not on first watch. The space beneath the palms and under the canopy of Alharir and Tariq’s wagon and within the tent of the vanquished minotaur soon became crowded with slumbering bodies and what sheets and bedding they could scrounged up.
Thankfully, the day ended without any additional excitement, and by nightfall, the group had left the lake and set off into the desert once more. A few of the carts went with them, pulled by those they once imprisoned, to carry all the extra supplies, the minotaur’s shelter, and anyone who was too young or too weak to walk for very long. In addition to having more bodies around, which as one would expect lent a sense of greater security, there was another major difference to their trip now, that being that the night was far noisier than before. After the first couple of hours, the children started to grow restless, and once they realized that they were no longer in danger of being struck for speaking out, their little mouths never stopped moving. Questions about whether they were there yet and when would they get to their destination and what was their destination and why weren’t they going home drowned out the night ambience as inquiries were brought forth regarding Alharir’s martial relationship with Tariq and Rarity’s connection to Biala and Steel Nerves’s apparent familial relations with the massive brute they had fought and took down and why are you all going to the schools of magic, are you mages, can we play with your sword, can you light it on fire again, how old are you Madam Rarity and why are you so short?
The mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and older sisters did their best to manage the curiosity of the little ones, but they were eventually overwhelmed and left the original group to their fate. Never having been much of a babysitter and especially not with so many children, Rarity could only smile weakly and distract them temporarily with contemplative responses to their many questions. As much out of her element as she was, however, it was nothing compared to how awkward Biala Diyn appeared. The stallion struggled to maintain his stoic and stern composure while the surrounding bunch of foals persistently pestered him with questions and hounded him for answers. Steel Nerves, on the other hoof, seemed to relish the attention that was being piled upon him, and instead of discouraging his audience he stroked the flames of their intrigue with dramatic muscles flexes and poses and embellished retellings of their recent battle, never mind that those before him had all been witnesses. He even went so far as to, over Biala’s snappish chiding, pick up and carry a few of the foals on his broad shoulders, all while grinning so proudly and brightly that his beaming face should have better lit their path through the darkness than their lanterns.
By sunrise, however, the laughter of children had turned to bratty grumbling and complaining as the air grew hot and their little legs grew sore. After some urging from the more protective mothers and guardians, Tariq, who was leading up in front, reluctantly called for the group to stop, and they broke for camp. “We may need another two days of travel before we arrive at the schools,” Tariq said in reply to Rarity’s question when they the original five had gathered. He gave her his spyglass and gestured toward the horizon. “It is already possible to see the entrance from here.”
Rarity looked to the direction Tariq had pointed her. At first, all she saw were the hills of sand and a few small dust devils swirling about. Confused, she continued to peer through the glass, but the only thing she could find other than sand before Steel Nerves snatched the telescope away from her was a rod sticking out of the ground. Steel had no better luck than her and quickly gave up with a huff as Biala took his turn. To both of their surprise, when Biala lowered the telescope he had on a look of understanding and simply shared a nod with Tariq and Aharir before returning to his food.
“Wait, what? Come on, tell us,” Steel pestered. “Come on, what did you see?”
“Do not get so excited. You are acting like a child,” Biala said. His tone was as indifferently as ever, but Rarity could see the ends of his mouth twitch in amusement. “You will be seeing it tomorrow, so there is no need to be upset.”
“I’m not upset.” Steel Nerves folded his arms over his chest and glowered, but the bad mood didn’t last long, and seconds later the minotaur was back to smiling. “So hey,” he began in a loud whisper, “did you all see how I jumped on that jerk’s back? Pretty heroic, huh?”
His companions all let out the same groan together. That interrogative at the end, “Pretty heroic, huh,” had gotten tiresome the fourth time he presented it to some creature, and they had lost the count on how many the additional times it had been asked several hours ago. “Oh, come on,” Steel exclaimed playfully, their annoyed reaction doing little to dampen his own enthusiasm. “I saved the day back there. I mean, yeah, it was a team effort and all, but you’ve got to admit, I did real good, right? I was pretty amazing, don’t you think?”
“You certainly were a big help,” Rarity conceded with a small smile that made the one on Steel’s face grow even larger. “I‘d have to say, I’m glad you were with us.”
“Hey, see? What did I tell you?” Steel turned his head toward Tariq and Alharir. “Worth every last shekel, am I right? And you know what, you all did pretty good too. Like I said, team effort. Like how you got him in the leg like that at the end,” he said, looking to Rarity as he mimed a stabbing motion before turning to Biala. “And that thing you did with those vines and, and when you made your sword catch on fire. Hey, you think you can teach me how to do the fire thing or does it only work with swords?”
Biala stared with an eyebrow cocked. “You are acting odd. It is almost as if that was the first battle you have ever been a part of.”
“What? No, no, of course. I’m just, you know, still excited, that’s all. Always happens after a good fight, you know?” Steel Nerves assured while he shook his arms around. “I’m pumped, I’ve got the blood flowing in me.”
Biala‘s other eyebrow rose to meet the first. “That was some time ago,” he said.
“Yeah, well, it was a really, really good fight.” Steel shrugged then punched the air a couple of times. “Yeah! Bring on the next one!”
“Hm.” Biala Diyn stroked a hoof through his beard. “Then I suppose you will not mind taking watch first. I will let the others assigned to that shift know you will be joining them.”
Steel’s face fell as Biala stood up and the others hid their chuckles. His lively energy visibly drained from his body, his shoulders drooping and his posture becoming sagged. “Wait, hold on, I mean, I’m not saying I’m not tired or anything. Hey, come on.” He looked to the rest of them for support, but Rarity, Tariq, and Alharir were already busy cleaning up and preparing their own sleeping arrangements, and as Steel hurried after Biala in protest, Rarity found herself a nice shady spot next to the wagon while Tariq and Alharir escaped to privacy of the carriage’s interior.
The day passed, again without incident, and then it was right back to marching through the desert. Remembering Biala’s words, Rarity kept watch for structures and landmarks as the group continued its journey, but it wasn’t until halfway through the night did she see anything other than sand, and all it was was that pole she had spotted the previous day out in the distance, now visible without the aid of refracting lenses.
Hours later, Rarity realized her mistake. It wasn’t a stick she saw extending out of the sand but rather a distant tower. As they drew closer to it, Rarity noticed that the tower was emitting a bright light, so bright in fact that the stars above were slowly disappearing, their celestial luminance outshone by the glow of a terrestrial usurper. Perhaps strangest of all was that the tower seemed to extend indefinitely into the heavens, something which hadn’t fully hit Rarity until she discovered that the top of the tower couldn’t be seen no matter how far she craned her neck.
When she caught up to Tariq and pointed the structure out, the stallion nodded and confirmed its presence and all of its oddities. That strange tower, he told her, was their destination and would be leading them to the elusive schools of magic. When a confused Rarity pressed for a more elaborate explanation, Tariq appeared to wrestle with his tongue for a bit before admitting that the whys and hows were beyond his own understanding of the arcane and that it would just be simpler if she just experienced it herself. It wasn’t the most satisfying answer, but it was all Rarity had to accept.
Others started to take notice of the tower as the night continued, striking some silent with awe while spurring others to double their questioning efforts. Steel Nerves was of the latter and would verbalize his observations and thoughts every third minute, but over the hours even he became quiet as he tired. When the sun had risen and it was time to make camp, the tower had gotten a bit bigger and more clearly visible though details were still difficult to make out from a glance. There appeared to still be a great deal of distance between them and their objective, at least by Rarity’s estimate, but Tariq confidently stated that they would be arriving there late tomorrow morning.
Rarity and Steel Nerves both were skeptical, the minotaur overtly more so, but the merchant turned out to be right. By the next dawn, the great tower was looming over the group, its immeasurable height giving every creature within its shadow a sense of wonder and feelings of dread and insignificance. The tower’s entrance stood before them a mere stretch away, guarded by a set of double doors, and they pressed on, ignoring the growing pains in their limbs and the heat of ascending sun as the end in sight gave many their second wind. Even when some started to groan and complain, Tariq forced the group forward until finally they and their carts reached the tower’s doorstep.
The doors themselves were massive, maybe three or four times as tall as Steel Nerves and one and a half times his broadness from shoulder to shoulder, and made of either bronze or brass framed by iron. Too heavy to push, and even if they were more appropriately sized or of lighter materials, Rarity couldn’t find handles or any other way to open the doors. She looked to Tariq, Alharir, and Biala Diyn, those who she knew had some knowledge of this place, for answers, but the three just stood there in front of the doors, staring.
“So, uh,” began Steel, scratching his head. “Is this, like a puzzle or—“
All three horses hushed him before turning their attention back to the doors. Steel glanced over to Rarity who shook her head and shrugged. A minute passed, then another, then in the middle of the third there was loud, deep groan. Children shrieked and hid behind their gasping guardians as creases formed across the doors and became a set of wrinkled lips and eyelids that lifted to reveal a pair of giant eyeballs, one on each of the doors. One eye was green and bloodshot, the other golden brown.
The eyes whirled around independently of each other to stare at those still gathered before the doors. The lips parted, and out came a low booming voice. “Business?” it said.
Tariq cleared his throat nervously. “V-visitors. We are visitors. We are merchants with goods to sell, and, uh, um—“
“And we are here to see our daughter,” added Alharir. “Her name is Aibnatu, and she is a student of Magus Grimclaw.”
The green eye turned to Biala Diyn and gold one to Steel. “Bodyguard,” Biala stated with a curt nod.
“Uh, s-same as him,” Steel Nerves said as he tried not to look directly at the eyeball the size of his entire head.
“Hm,” hummed the door. The eyes looked to Rarity. “And you?”
Rarity swallowed and steadied herself. “I’m here in search of magical knowledge.”
The eyes narrowed for a moment before the green one turned to face the crowd huddling behind them. “And them?”
“They are, ah, with us,” Tariq said. “Just, they do not have any real business here and will leave as soon as we are done with ours.”
The door hummed again and pressed its lips tightly together. The eyes shut, and slowly, the doors creaked open outwardly and revealed to them a room shrouded in shadows undisturbed by either the natural sunlight or the glow of the surrounding tower. Tariq released a sigh and nodded to the inside of the tower. “Alright then,” he announced, raising his volume so that all could hear him. “Let us go in. Do not leave anything behind. Bring the carts with you. Everyone ready?”
Hearing a smattering of confirmations in response, Tariq walked in first and was followed shortly after by Alharir with their covered wagon. The moment the threshold was crossed, they were swallowed up by the darkness, and at the sight of Tariq and Alharir and the carriage vanishing away like that, some of the newest additions to the group stirred uncomfortable. “You two should go next,” Biala Diyn said. “I will bring up the rear and do what I can to keep everyone here calm.”
“That, uh, that sounds like a pretty big job. You know, for just one creature.” Steel Nerves coughed. “Why don’t I stick around to help with that, huh?” He turned to Rarity and tried to put on a smile. “You go on ahead of us. I’m sure it’s safe. Yeah, it’s probably fine. Yeah.”
The minotaur hurried after Biala to try and reassure the crowd, leaving Rarity alone and with several gazes upon her watching intently. She sighed and took a step toward the darkness, then after taking a deep breath, she walked inside.
The air around her became cold, a stark contrast to the desert heat she was just in. Rarity shivered, and she turned her head back to discover that the tower’s open entrance had disappeared, her path leading outside gone. Her heart started to race, but she forced it to slow down with another breath. “Calm down, Rarity,” she whispered to herself. “Tariq and Alharir are in here as well. Just find them, and you’ll be fine.”
She looked around, but the only thing she could find in the dark was a yellow glow a little ways away. Seeing few other options, Rarity decided to walk towards the light, and it didn’t take long before she stepped into view of the source. There, on a large wood table, was a lit candle, and sitting across from Rarity, on the other side of the table, was a pair of cat folk in matching gray robes scribbling away on pieces of parchment. Between the two cats was an open ledger, and across its pages danced a quill unaided. To her side stood Tariq and Alharir who failed to notice her approach and only turned to greet her when she called attention to herself.
“Here you are, sir and miss,” said one of the cats as he held out a rolled up scroll toward Alharir. His eyes, Rarity noted, were the same golden brown as the one that appear on the door. The other cat was also presenting a scroll, and their green eyes were bloodshot which added to their exhausted and disheveled appearance.
“Your pass,” mumbled the green eyed feline. “Shouldn’t have to tell you not to lose it.” Once Tariq had accepted the scroll, the cat turned to Rarity. “Name?”
“Rarity.”
The cat smirked as they went back to writing. “Shmarity Glory Sparkler de Tabitha, Princess of Spiketopia.” The feather pen in their paw paused. “Business? Looking for magic knowledge.”
“And necromancy of all things,” the cat’s partner butted in. “Huh, interesting.” He smiled that typical smug feline smile. “Well, it’s an honor to have you, Princess. Oh, excuse me! Yes, you in the back, the pretty mare pulling the cart, you next to the minotaur. Walk over here please. Oh, and if you could please bring your kid with you. Let’s save some time and get the both of you processed.”
One of the mares they had rescued suddenly appeared beside Rarity, and behind them clung a filly. “Now if I could have your names, please?” the cat said.
“Ahem.” Rarity turned back to the more tired looking of the pair. “Your pass,” they said, placing a roll of parchment in front of her. “Keep it on you at all times while on campus and don’t lose it. It’ll grant you access to the public facilities and the lower level libraries and lecture halls. Anywhere higher needs permission from a dean.” They gestured lazily to the side where Tariq and Alharir now stood before getting out more paper. “Next.”
Rarity slowly made her way over to the couple and their carriage. “Is everything alright, Rarity?” Alharir asked her once the initial salutations were exchanged. “You look worried, if you do not mind me saying so.”
“I’m fine,” Rarity said though her unsteady tone demonstrated otherwise. She shook herself, but the intrusion she felt in her head had already left. “Did, did you hear, I mean, how did they, what?”
Alharir gave her a sympathetic smile while her husband nodded with similar sentiments behind the motion. “Yes, they are rather unsettling,” Alharir said with a glance toward the cats as they gave out more scrolls and sent more creatures their way. “I felt so too our first time here.”
“They were here then as well?” Rarity asked. “The receptionists?”
“Yes,” answered Tariq with his forelegs folded over his front as he sat and frowned at the cats. “The exact same. Same eyes, same robes, same attitudes.” He shook his head. “Nothing of this mad place has changed since then, that much I can remember.”
“There was, a disagreement the last time we were here,” Alharir explained when Rarity looked to her questioningly. “They, might have mentioned a few thoughts Tariq was trying to keep private, and he, well, he did not take it well.” The mare smiled and giggled softly. “Aibnatu refused to speak to him out of embarrassment for the rest of that day.”
A crowd slowly grew around them as more and more received their passes and joined them, including Steel Nerves who looked especially shaken and would periodically glance over his shoulder at the welcoming desk and shudder. The last to arrive of Biala Diyn, and the experience only seemed to have annoyed the stallion. With every creature now gathered together, the two cats got up from their desk and walked up in front of the crowd. They stood there, waiting for the crowd to quiet with their paws clasped behind their back.
“Alright folks, we’ve got a few quick rules to run through, and then we’ll have you on your way,” said the cat with the yellow eyes.
“Act civilized and don’t do anything stupid,” said the other feline, yawning.
“You’re all free to move about and do whatever in the visitor’s section so long as you aren’t being a nuisance. If you have access to anywhere else, and we’ve already told you who you are, just show whoever’s in your way your pass, and they’ll let you through.”
“If you’re somewhere you’re not supposed to be, don’t worry. Your pass’ll let you, and more importantly us, know.”
“Remember to keep your pass on you at all times. If you do somehow end up losing it, do not panic. Return to the visitor’s section immediately and remain in one place. Your pass will likely find its way back to you.”
“In the event of an emergency, follow instructions and evacuate the plane of existence in a calm and orderly manner.”
“The schools of magic bid you welcome,” both cats said in unison, and as they bowed their heads, the world went white. On reflex, Rarity’s eyes squeezed shut as others cried out and gasped in surprise. The chill in the air was suddenly replaced by a comforting warmth, like the ray of the sun on a perfect summer day, and when Rarity opened her eyes, she found that she no longer stood in darkness.
No, for the town plaza she and rest of the group were now in was as bright as day.