As Emerald Edge and Posey entered the throne room of the palace, they saw that it had been significantly cleaned up. There were new curtains on the windows and the floor had been repaired, with some scaffolding on the walls where renovations were still under way. Sombra was standing by one of the westward facing windowed balconies, staring into the enhanced spyglass that the mages had made of King Aldilu.
“Ah, you’re here,” Sombra said as he glanced aside to see Emerald and Posey approach. “Come, come. We have much to discuss and very little time to do it in.”
“What is it you wanted us here for?” Emerald asked, getting to the point.
“I had a look through this device you crafted for my father this morning,” Sombra gestured to the tripod-mounted giant spyglass. “And I saw an army massing on the horizon. They seem to be coming from Alamule’s direction, or I’m a pheasant.”
“Alamule? What is that?” Emerald joined him by the window, looking out at the dunes in the distance. She saw no army, but she did spy towering shapes behind the dunes, seemingly moving towards them.
“What in the world…” Posey looked through the spyglass and her face grew solemn. “I think Morn is coming back, or at least someone with an artifact is in the lead. It’s hard to tell, but I think I can see a glow there.”
“Still, it should not be a problem,” Sombra turned to Emerald. “You and the Apple proved to be more than a match for Morn when we drove him out. I am sure with its power, we will be able to fend them off and retake Alamule Castle. And then perhaps drive them from our land completely.”
“Oh, yes… uh, about that.” Emerald tried to avoid eye contact. “Morn still had dominated humans here. They… stole the Apple. Tis no longer within my possession…”
Sombra’s face went through a series of calisthenics. First to questioning, then shock, then disgust and awe, and finally on disbelief.
“I must have heard you wrong…” Sombra said, putting on what Emerald would have described as a forced smile. “For a moment it sounded like you said you lost the Apple.”
No one said a word.
“How? How could you lose it?” Sombra ran his hands through his dark hair. He mumbled a string of words in Saddle Arabian. “After all we went through to get it!”
“I have explained it to some of your guards, your majesty,” Posey said. “They have agreed to stand ready on the outer walls and we will do our best to slow them down.”
“Yes, slow down. But what of stopping them?” Sombra pounded a fist on the side of a pillar. “Morn means to take my kingdom again?! He must not have it! He desecrates all we have built up since the ancient times!”
For that, Emerald had no answer. Yes, she had repelled Morn before. But what was to stop him from trying again at a later time. To solve this problem, she would have to get to the root and cut it out. And that meant taking Morn down if that was the only way.
“We have several advantages,” Posey said as she came away from the window. “Your city has sturdy walls, and well-fortified gates. It will be difficult to breach either of them. Second, I believe you have more soldiers than Morn does. Unfortunately, he has the Equestrian artifacts and some rather impressive war machines going for him. The good news is that it will be difficult to move such heavy devices across the sand.”
“I suggest you tell your people to stay indoors and wait it out, should it come to open war,” Emerald advised.
“More men I may have, but not enough to completely wipe out the enemy,” Sombra argued. “That would take an army twice the size of my current one.”
Posey shook her head. “Winning a war isn’t about wiping out every enemy soldier. All you have to do is prevent the opponent from achieving their goal.”
“But what is stopping them from returning again? Morn must die, if we hope to end this.” Sombra gazed angrily out of the window.
“I would prefer not to kill him-” Emerald began, but Sombra cut her off.
“That man is responsible for killing my father and trying to conquer a land that does not belong to him, and from your stories, he has done far worse! I do not know what your history with him is, but he must die. Otherwise we will never have peace.”
“I know, I know. I would prefer not to…” Emerald raised a hand. “But if I must, then I will have to do what is best for all kingdoms. No matter what I feel…”
Sombra grunted and turned back to the mounted spyglass. “So long as you understand what needs to be done.”
Emerald sighed. Why couldn’t things go her way for once?
“I will gather my generals and we will defend the walls.” Sombra put down his device and closed his eyes. “I owe it to my father to defend the kingdom he so loved. As for you Canterlotians, I will take any help you can offer. If you do help me, I will be in your debt.”
Then Emerald thought of something. “The mages. They built the siege weapons. They would know their strengths and weaknesses like the back of their hands. If you can hold them off for now, Sombra, we might have a way to disable their weapons.”
“Very well. Then how will you plan on facing Morn?”
Emerald thought back to what she knew about Morn. His deepest, most steadfast convictions and beliefs.
“It is possible to overcome Morn through sheer force, and even though Excalibur is a mighty weapon, he cannot fully unlock its true power. And he still entertains thoughts of winning me over. Keeping these facts in mind, should we hit him with enough damage, even he cannot ward it off forever. All I need is to take Excalibur from him.”
“Ah, but he would sooner run than allow that to happen,” Sombra pointed out. “He did that the last time we fought him.”
“Aye, but nothing is certain in war,” Emerald conceded. “One way or another, we must win. People are going to die,” the former pegasus glared out into the cloudless sky. “We might be some of them.”
A loud horn suddenly sounded somewhere from outside, resounding throughout the palace halls.
“The enemy signals their approach, it seems.” Sombra placed a land on his scabbard. “I believe they intend to scare us. To General Rashid, Emerald Edge. He is positioned on the outer walls. Find your mages and assist him. Our walls must not fall. I will rally our troops here with General Hassan, should the city walls fall. I pray they will not.”
Emerald nodded, then set off to the lower floors at a brisk pace, Posey following close behind. Sombra looked out at the oncoming army again and his face grew hard.
“May the spirits of my forefathers have mercy on us all.”
“War machines, is it?” Light Speckle asked as she, Nightfall Gleam, Posey, and Emerald turned their horses to the western wall. “I remember working on those. King Dawn Saber commissioned at least three dozen of them from us.”
“Secret Fire and I came up with the plans,” Nightfall said proudly. “I know all there is to know about our siege weapons. To think we would actually have to fight against our own weapons… It will be a shame to destroy them, but I do know how to get it done.”
“Do you think these walls could stand against them?”
Another blast of a horn came from somewhere beyond Masyaf.
“The catapults were designed to take down castle walls,” Nightfall said, more of excitement than fear. “With their fiery payloads, I do not know how long these walls will last, but they will come down if we do not stop them.”
“I told Sombra the walls would hold.” Emerald hoped she hadn’t mislead him.
Nightfall paused. “Tis best the king doesn’t know the full story, then.”
Once they were at the walls, the four women wasted no time in rushing up the stairway to the parapets, where Saddle Arabian archers had already been lined up. One man in particular had a plume in his pointed helmet and he had a rather long and dark beard, which Emerald thought would be a handicap in a swordfight.
He saw them coming and he turned to greet them. “Ah, the Canterlotians. I am General Rashid. King Sombra has sent word that you know the weaknesses of those war machines.”
“That’s right,” Emerald said, privately wondering how Rashid spoke English so well. “We have two people who helped design them right here.”
Rashid pointed at the distance, where the oncoming army was approaching from. Emerald estimated that they had about half an hour before they would be within bowshot, which gave them some time to plan. Two knights led the front of the battalion, one holding up a flag with a black and white background, and in the center of it was a red sword with a guard that was almost as long as the grip and the blade. On his left was the other knight, who held on to a large metal version of the sword on the flag. As they stopped atop the closest dune to Masyaf, the rest of the army behind them followed suit. The sun was already low in the sky behind them and there wasn’t much daylight left to the day.
“I do not recognize that standard…” Light Speckle said as she looked at the flag with a spyglass. “Tis not our Canterlot flag.”
“It seems Morn is flying something beyond kingdoms,” Emerald guessed. “He does have Saddle Arabians in his army now.”
“Whatever it is, I don’t like it,” Posey took out her bow and strung it. “He says he wants peace, but all he brings is war. Morn is a hypocrite at best and a deluded murderer at worst.”
Rashid took out his own bow and tested the string while looking at Posey’s weapon. “We will need every arrow and bowman we have if we are to stop the enemy from breaching the city. I have a hundred and eighty nine archers on these walls, then more in the city, should the enemy breach us.”
“We will need to disable the catapults first,” Nightfall explained. “If we break the pivot to a catapult’s arm, we would render them useless.”
“The sun has nearly set,” Light Speckle said, pointing. “If they intend to fight us in the darkness, I presume a certain king would have something to say about giving him an advantage.”
Rashid frowned. “Perhaps they do not yet intend to fight us, yes, but they would not say no to beginning their siege on the walls.”
As the Saddle Arabian general pointed, Emerald spied a catapult’s payload ignite. It seemed Morn’s men had different plans. Smoke trailed behind the burning boulder as the catapult’s arm shot it up into the air. Everyone watched as it sailed towards them and everything seemed to go silent for a few seconds, and then the boulder smashed into the base of the wall, by the city gates and the ensuing explosion of fire knocked everyone to the ground as panicked voices were now shouting to each other.
Emerald had never expected to be on the receiving end of such powerful machines, but here she was now. She had remembered seeing the demonstration of their power all those years ago, and she had been worried they could end up in the wrong hands, like when the druids tried to steal one. Now… It was much worse.
“Ah, horseapples. Here we go again.”
“The gates still stand!” Rashid pulled himself back from looking over the side. “Your Canterlot weapons are devastating indeed. I am not sure our defenses can last the night, should they choose to keep firing. They are smart to stand beyond the reach of our archers. The only way to stop them now would be to go out on horse or camelback.”
“And even then, the siege engines are beyond the infantry and cavalry…” Light Speckle mentioned. “Tis not wise to approach this head on.” As she said this, they could already see another payload being set on fire.
“Do you not have any defenses of your own?” Posey asked, looking over the parapets carefully.
“None but our archers.” Rashid looked down disappointedly. “We have nothing that can cover such distance.”
“If only we still had the Apple,” Light Speckle exclaimed despairingly. “This city is ill-equipped for such an onslaught.”
“We counted on geographical strategy to keep the city safe,” Rashid aimed a kick at a bottle on the floor. “Never did we think a whole enemy army would come all the way across the sands just to attack us. It just did not seem feasible.”
“What, really?” Emerald looked amazed. “You did not think any invader would come and besiege your land? Not even once?”
“Perhaps we need to sit down and think.” Nightfall rubbed her chin.
“We don’t have time to think!” Emerald swung an arm in the air. “Morn’s forces will not take long to get through the wall if the catapults still stand! We need to get out there right now. It’s the only way!”
“This is a pretty rum situation all around,” Light Speckle said as she peeked over the battlements at the catapults. Without any defensive weapons, all we can do is wait here while they hammer at us.”
Nightfall shrugged and took out her snuffbox, putting some of the powder on the back of her hand and inhaling it. “Ah, that’s better.”
“There is no other way.” Emerald pulled her hood over her head. “It will soon be dark. I shall use the cover of night to approach their catapults and I will take out as many as I can.”
“How will you get down there?” Rashid asked. “The gates are all locked.”
Emerald went over to a stack of crates and began searching through them, finally uncovering a tarp that she swiftly folded into a curious shape. “This is something we pegasi used to use to help young foals get comfortable with flying before their wings were fully grown.”
“Pegasi?” Rashid asked, but he just shook his head and raised his hands. “The farmhouses should provide some cover as you approach, but once you hit the desert, you will be in the open.”
“That’s all I needed to know,” Emerald said. Then she took a running start and jumped off the wall, the folded tarp unfurling behind her to catch the air. At the same time, a fiery boulder smashed into the base of the wall and boosted her up into the air as the flames went high.
“And she’s flying,” Nightfall marveled.
Parisa was suddenly beside them. “And she’s flying! And she’s flying! How amazing is that!”
“How did you get here?” Light Speckle jumped.
“I walked here, of course!” the dancer said, doing a twirl. “Born a soldier from the horse-lands to the skies,” she gazed up as Emerald drifted downwards towards a farmhouse like a leaf in the wind.
Light Speckle leaned closer to Nightfall and whispered, “Do you know what she is saying?”
“Not a clue,” Nightfall answered, then took another sniff.
Emerald hit the ground behind the farmhouse, the tarp parachute falling down behind her as she began running. She didn’t understand why the farmers were outside the walls, but it did help her in getting closer undetected. She would have to use her wits here and hope the walls would last.
A goat looked up at her as she ran by, vaulting herself over a fence. And with that, Emerald now found herself entering the desert sands and running soon became quite the task. She watched as another catapult fired its boulder, but thankfully, this one fell short of the wall and blasted up a patch of a field.
The run up the dune took more energy from her than she had expected, but fortunately, when she had reached the top, the sun had already gone down behind the mountains and it would be dark enough for her to approach them.
As she closed in on the catapults, she kept low to avoid being spotted. Using this moment of undetectability, she surveyed the battlefield.
There were six catapults that she could see, all at the back lines and each manned by a crew of five soldiers. They were busy loading more boulders onto the throwing machines and then pouring some kind of substance over them to set alight. The soldiers seemed to keep their stores of flammable liquid near the catapults. This gave Emerald an idea. Perhaps she didn’t need to go through the hassle of disabling their pivots after all. And maybe that was also an advantage against Morn’s forces. Not having their own minds, they wouldn’t be able to foresee loopholes through their plans on their own.
Another payload was launched into the wall, ending in a deafening explosion of fire, blowing up part of the walkway. Emerald flinched as she saw Saddle Arabian archers tossed off the parapets. She had to stop those catapults before they could do anymore damage.
Keeping low, the spymaster flung herself over the dune and moved as quickly as she could behind the first of the catapult crews. The soldiers seemed fixed on their task, the golden glow from their eyes casting pools of light on whatever they looked at. Emerald knew she would have to avoid being spotted if her plan was to unfold perfectly.
Getting close, she unsheathed one of her hidden blades and waited until they were getting another boulder onto the catapult’s bucket. The former pegasus aimed for the one standing by the frame, whose job was to direct the weapon should they need to aim for a different spot. He would also be less attention on him, which was what she wanted.
Emerald drove her hidden blade deep into the small of the man’s back, straight through his chainmail. She reached a hand forward and covered his mouth as she did so, preventing any sound from leaving his mouth. His body soon went limp and Emerald held on to his body and dragged him further back where his allies wouldn’t see.
Thinking quickly, Emerald took off the soldier’s mail hauberk and helmet, putting them on over her own armor. Fortunately they were almost the perfect size for her. She pulled the visor down and her disguise was complete. Morn’s army was such a mashup of soldiers from different lands that the rest of her armor should be able to pass inspection. Heading back to the first catapult, the others continued readying the payload, not even looking at her once. It seemed her disguise was working just fine.
As one of the soldiers prepared to light the boulder, Emerald turned from the frame and jabbed her hidden blade under the next man’s chin. The one with the torch stopped to look at her, but Emerald kicked out with a foot and knocked the torch high. In that moment, she closed the distance between them and released a flurry of stabs with both hidden blades into the soldier’s chest and when he dropped to his knees, Emerald jumped off his shoulder and grabbed the torch in the air. The last two soldiers drew their weapons, but it was already too late. Aiming the torch, Emerald threw it at the stacks of barrels beside the siege engine, then hit the ground running as a ball of flame lit up the night sky, blowing the catapult and its crew to smithereens.
The rising plume of smoke and flame lit up the surrounding area, and soldiers from all around turned to look at the explosion. Chunks of flaming debris rained down around the crater where the catapult had been.
Emerald smiled grimly as a cheer went up from the Saddle Arabian wall. Swiftly, she ran over to the second catapult. With her disguise, Emerald blended in almost immediately and the next catapult crew didn’t seem to realize they had a sixth member with them, though they were still busy looking at the fiery pillar instead of readying the next payload.
That was good.
Emerald swiped the torch from the soldier holding it and ran a good distance. The soldiers all turned to her and one even went for his sword, but Emerald flung the torch once she was far enough and the next catapult and its occupants disappeared behind a blinding explosion of fire and smoke. This was almost too easy now. She had just made it to the next catapult when something happened that she did not expect.
A flash of golden light from the front lines illuminated the army, and all the soldiers suddenly went still. One by one, the soldiers that Emerald could see in the fire’s light all turned their heads in her direction, their eyes glowing fiercely.
Looks like the game’s up.
As one motion, every one of Morn’s soldiers drew a sword and advanced on her. Emerald didn’t need to be a tactical genius to know that she could not fight an army. She looked around frantically; even the catapult crew had abandoned their machine to take her down. There was no way out; she was surrounded on all sides, behind enemy lines with no escape.
Then she looked to her immediate left, where the catapult was. There was no stone loaded on the throwing arm yet, but the machine was cocked and ready. She had a fast, desperate idea.
Emerald jumped up onto the catapult and dodged a sword swing from a nearby knight. She made sure to land in the cupola that would normally hold the boulder, then drew her scimitar and slashed it at the ratchet that held the throwing arm in place.
Emerald was in the air in less than a second and she felt as if she was flying again, though she was coming up to Masyaf’s wall very fast. The wind whipped at her hair and cloak, making her eyes water.
Please let that catapult have been aiming above the wall.
Masyaf’s city wall loomed up ahead, and it looked like Emerald was going to sail right over it and crash into the city beyond. Then something flew into her just as she was passing over the battlements, landing her in a prickly but soft pile of hay. If it was one thing she was thankful for, this city seemed to have haystacks just about everywhere.
“That was a close one,” a voice said in a Saddle Arabian accent. “I have seen many things in my life, but nothing like that. You truly are something, Emerald Edge.”
Emerald recognized the voice from the dungeons. “Hollow Wish?”
“I knew we would meet again,” Hollow Wish rolled out of the haystack and lay on the ground. “You are the kind of person who attracts attention.” She clutched at her side. Her tunic was stained red.
“You have not recovered.” Emerald got up and helped her to a sitting position. “Twas not wise of you to rush back to the battle so quickly. But… thank you. If not for you, I may well already be dead. Twice.”
Hollow Wish let out a coughing laugh through her mask. “If you can unseat that Canterlotian king, I will be more than happy to call it even. Just… give me a moment. I need to get my breath back.”
Emerald’s friends and General Rashid ran over from the other side of the wall, immediately crowding around her and giving her various forms of recognition and praise.
“Em, I have to say, that was some stunt you have pulled off.” Posey grinned. “I would never think to ride the catapult.”
“Tis a wonder you weren’t smashed to smithereens,” Nightfall said, then poured out more powder from her sniffing box. “You even managed to destroy two of their war machines; I was watching through my spyglass. Incredible! Though, I could only see out there when they went on fire.”
“Very good work,” General Rashid added his praise. “In my years of serving the king, I have not seen any attack like that.”
Emerald nodded. “Hollow Wish is hurt. She needs healing.”
The group looked at her with confused expressions.
“Where is she?”
“Hollow Wish, she’s-” Emerald turned to point at her, but the Saddle Arabian woman was gone. “She was just here.”
“We can find your friend later.” Rashid looked over the wall to Morn’s army. “Four catapults still stand. If we do not deal with them soon…”
There was a thwack and another fiery payload came sailing towards the wall, this time smashing into the iron gates. Rashid’s men threw themselves aside as the following explosion ensued. The gates held strong, but there was now a massive dent in it, which still smoked.
“There has to be another way…” Emerald gritted her teeth. “Morn’s men do not need sleep. They can fire through the night.”
Emerald knew they would at least wait the night out before attempting a frontal assault, and if the wall was gone by then, then their job of taking Masyaf would be a lot easier. The mages could rig something up perhaps, but they wouldn’t have enough time to do that. The longer they stood here doing nothing, the more time Morn had to take the city walls down. Was the city doomed already? Would they have a better chance if they fell back to the palace walls instead?
“You have no ranged defensive weapons whatsoever?” Emerald asked. Rashid shook his head. “Then we must rely on trickery. Tell your men to fall back and hide in the streets and alleys; after all, they know the city better than Morn’s men do. Home ground advantage. Keep some archers along the walls, above the gates. Should they breach the gates, which they most likely will, have them open fire on the soldiers. Take out as many as you can.”
“So the wall is lost?” Rashid clenched his fists. He barked at his archers in Saddle Arabian, and they were surprised at first, but then they complied. “We must protect the women and children at all costs. If any man can fight, hand him a sword.”
“You’ll also want to pile up rubble behind the gates,” Posey advised. “That way it will be harder for the enemy to get in if the gate is breached.”
“We have no shortage of that…” Rashid looked at the wrecked sections of wall that the catapults had knocked in. “But it will not be much use if they still have their catapults.”
“Then we should move now. Buy as much time as we can.” Emerald gazed out in the darkness as another catapult released its payload into the gates.
Rashid, Emerald, and her friends hurried down the steps into the city. Rashid gave orders to his men, who all saluted and went to carry out their instructions. Some of the men were already piling debris in front of the gate, making a hill that was taller than most of the surrounding houses.
“When they come through this bottleneck, they will be prime targets for our archers,” Rashid explained as some Saddle Arabian bowmen began taking up places on nearby rooftops. “Whatever happens, we must protect the people of Masyaf.”
“The catapults will not make it into the city,” Nightfall briefed. “But their other siege engines are small enough to do so. Do not let your guard down. They are powerful against the toughest of steel.”
“Then we shall be ready.” Rashid tapped his scimitar. “We will be ready to strike. The great operation begins.”
He turned to his remaining men and spoke to them in Saddle Arabian, then they were off.
“For the grace and the might of King Sombra.” Rashid nodded to them, then he assembled with sixteen of his archers near the gates, bows in hand.
“What will we do, Em?” Posey raised her own bow. “I can help with slowing them down before they enter the city.”
“We need every edge we can get,” Emerald said, clenching her fist around the grip of her sword. “Sombra’s shadow powers would prove useful. Where is he?”
“At the palace,” Light Speckle said, looking back into the city using her spyglass. “He is shoring up the defenses there.”
“You mean he intends to lose the battle for the gates?” Nightfall exclaimed. “That’s rather defeatist of him.”
“The gates will already be lost,” Emerald grunted. “What matters is keeping them from the city, but if Sombra thinks even the city will be lost, then yes, how defeatist of him. But he is right to do so. If the palace falls, then tis too late for Masyaf. We must ensure Morn’s men never take it. We must fight.”
“We must prepare for the inevitable.” Light Speckle pulled on Nightfall’s robes. “Nightfall and I shall return to the palace and see about rigging up some magic in case they pass the city. Will you and Posey be able to hold them off with Rashid’s men?”
Emerald looked glumly at the city. “We will have to, or these people will be enslaved once more.”
As the mages left for the palace, Posey took up a spot by the city gates, with Gabriel soaring above to provide any insight on the situation in advance.
Emerald stood by the battlements, gazing out into the darkness. She tried concentrating, she tried using the eagle vision Posey was teaching her, to be able to see her enemies, but no matter how hard she narrowed her eyes and forced herself to see, nothing changed. The spymaster grumbled and shook her head. She still needed more time, but was time something they had here? Morn had all the artifacts within his possession. Their only hope had been lost because she had been careless. From here on, she had to be prepared. She could not risk being careless again.
“You will not take Masyaf, Morn. Mark my words. Not while I still stand.”