//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Setting a trap // Story: Gusty the Great book 1- The beginning // by Dianabel //------------------------------// Bray arrived to the gates of the throne room. “Is the emperor busy?” he asked the two guards. “I have some news to tell him. You know, the morning report.” “Well, he´s doing administration stuff, or whatever emperors do.” a guard replied. “I know that he´s not one hundred percent free, you don´t need to tell me that. I´ve known him for a longer time than any of you!” he said with certain arrogance. “What I mean is if he´s talking with one of his allies or something like that.” “Oooh…” the other guard said in understanding. “In that case, he´s free.” “Then open the gates.” The guards nodded and obeyed. Bray´s ears dropped somewhat when he saw the emperor sitting in his throne, focused in signing papers or thinking about the next strategy to defeat his enemies. If there was one thing Bray knew too well about the emperor, was that he hated being interrupted. Although he was just doing his job, there were times the emperor would snap at him. It depended on the mood he caught him on. Bray gulped before calling his name. “Emperor Grogar.” The ram took his eyes off the paper and looked at Bray instead. As his eyes are usually in a frown, it would be difficult for any pony to identify if he was angry or just calm. Luckily, due to years of experience, Bray was an expert at reading the emperor´s frowns, and this time, they weren´t too narrow, which meant that he wasn´t angry. He sighed softly in relief. “I come to bring you the morning report.” Bray explained as he approached the emperor. Grogar nodded at the guards to close the door. “Speak.” he ordered Bray. “Ok.” Bray cleared his throat. “Firstly, I must, although without any pleasure, that today is Monday. You know what that means.” Grogar expirated air from his nose. “Later. Right now, I´m busy. But that´s not the morning report.” “I know, it was just a reminder. As for the morning report, so far, things are going pretty normal at the capital. If there´s been any arrests of pony folk, they have been due to stealing minor things, such as food. The gravest one has been stealing money from taxes, but that has been taken care of.” “What about the other territories? Any news?” “Not that I heard of. So far, there hasn´t been a messenger with terrible news, so… All good!” “Good. And what about…” Grogar took a pause before finishing. “Her? Has any of my guards seen anything weird?” Bray bit his lip. “No…” he said with certain doubt. Grogar narrowed his eyes. “What´s with that no?” he asked suspiciously. Bray started to sweat. He looked from side to side. “Bray, are you hiding something from me?” Bray sighed in defeat. “Ok. I´ll tell you everything. Just moments ago, an unicorn mare has come into the castle asking for a job as a maid.” “And you accepted her.” Bray gulped. “Well, she gave me the impression that she was a naïve and stupid pony. Plus, she seemed completely clueless about her position in society. She even thought I was going to present her to you, can you imagine?” He started laughing but it slowly faded, as he noticed that Grogar was not amused on one bit. “So… I don´t think she´s working for her. Plus, I asked her about rumours in the pony folk. None of them involved a secret rebellion.” “So you accepted her…” “I…” “Did you accept her or no?” Grogar asked angrier. Bray stayed silent. “Answer me!” Grogar raised his voice. “Well, not yet.” “What do you mean with not yet?” “I haven´t given her a job yet. I only showed her the whole castle.” “You what?!” Grogar got up from his seat. “Not the forbidden places, of course. Especially the corridor. I only told her that she couldn´t enter to those places and that´s it.” Slowly, Grogar walked downstairs to Bray, which made the donkey walk backwards. “However, if you want me to, I could just send her away…” “I think it´s a little too late for that.” “I didn´t say anything secret.” “No, but right now she could be sneaking in the forbidden places and getting information for Majesty she could use against me later! DON´T YOU REALIZE THAT?!” “But if your suspicions are true, then others have done that already. What´s the difference?” “Time is the difference, Bray. Time. Now we know what´s happening, and we can prevent it from happening. And when time passes new information comes, and if that mare is truly working for Majesty, then she can get that new information and steal me more territories!” Grogar cornered Bray by smacking his hoof against the wall, which made him yelp. “Do you see the difference now?” Bray nodded. “I´ll give the order to arrest her right now, don´t worry. I´ll do anything to make amends for my mistake, I promise.” “Do so now.” Grogar said as he freed Bray. “Yes, my emperor.” Bray ran to the gates but before he opened it, he came up with an idea, making him freeze. “Why aren´t you carrying on my order?” Grogar asked threatingly, seeing Bray didn´t move. “My emperor. What made you think that Majesty is sending ponies to spy on us?” “Why are you asking that now?” Grogar asked confused both confused and angry that Bray wasn´t doing his job. “Now it´s not the time. Do your job.” “It´s important, my emperor.” Bray replied as he turned around to Grogar. “I think I might have a good idea.” Grogar raised his eyebrow. “This better be a good idea Bray, otherwise I´ll end you.” he said under his breath as he sat on the throne. “Answering to your question, how else would she have guessed when we were going to retake what she´s taken away from us? Or how did she know our defences? Once could have been by chance, but various times?” “No offense, Emperor Grogar, but that could be because she guessed your strategy somehow. Perhaps it´s time for a change?” Bray realized he shouldn´t have opened his mouth when Grogar threw him a death stare. “But of course, your strategies are really difficult to guess so that´s a no.” he rectified while smiling nervously. “I was planning on that before you said anything. I know when things are wrong, I don´t need any creature to tell me when I need to fix something. But I don´t think it´s because of that. She must have had that information somehow.” “She could have ordered her ponies to attack messengers, couldn´t she?” “I´m pretty sure she´s done that too. To know when to send ponies to the castle. But that doesn´t explain how she managed to get key information. Plus, one never sends a strategy via a messenger, that´s something pretty basic, Bray.” he said the last sentence somewhat angry, as it seemed Bray was taking Grogar for a fool. “I was just thinking on possibilities.” Bray said in defence. “Another option would be that one of your allies is secretly working for Majesty.” “That´s also a very plausible one. I´ll get into that. But we shouldn´t discard the theory about infiltrated ponies of hers in the castle either.” “So you´re a hundred percent that there are infiltrated ponies?” “Most certainly, yes. I know there are ponies working here who seem innocent but aren´t at all. But I need evidence. And so far, my guards haven´t been able to spot anything suspicious between the castle´s workers. But that´s probably because they are fools.” he massaged his forehead as he sighed. “Not a single creature here is competent enough. Except you Bray, at times.” Bray´s face fell flat. “I´m feeling so flattered right now. Thank you.” he said sarcastically. “Which is why I haven´t been able to take action in this matter. But perhaps it´s time I do. It´s clear that I´m the only one who solves everything efficiently here.” “Luckily, you have your loyal and greatest follower here to help you with his idea!” Grogar rolled his eyes in disdain. “Go on.” he allowed him to talk so he would shut up. “Finally!” he exclaimed triumphally. “I mean…” he said after Grogar glared at him. “With pleasure, my emperor.” he cleared his throat. “I suggest we keep her around.” Grogar scoffed. “You´re kidding. Please, tell me you´re kidding.” he begged angrily. Bray raised his hoof. “I know it might seem reckless and stupid or whatever adjectives come to your mind. But what would happen if we specifically kept an eye on her? It would be a shame for her if we caught her talking with some stranger ponies.” he smiled maliciously. “Or worse, if she only talked with specific ponies and they went to hidden places? That would be somewhat suspicious, both for her and other ponies, wouldn´t it?” Grogar caught Bray´s idea quickly. “Definitely.” he grinned in satisfaction. “And for Majesty too.” “So, should I tell her the good news?” “Not yet. We need to plan this carefully.” “We´ll double up the guards everywhere.” “That won´t be enough. Didn´t you hear? Those troggles aren´t capable of doing their job correctly. We can´t rely entirely on them.” “Then what do you suggest?” Grogar smiled. Several minutes had passed, and poor Gusty was still waiting for Bray, surrounded by troggles. The only thing that calmed her was that she wasn´t feeling her magic slipping away. She just felt uncomfortable by the silence. A bored troggle noticed Gusty´s bag. His ears perked up when he came up with an idea. He whispered at his mate´s ear, which made the other troggle grin mischievously. Although she didn´t hear what they said exactly, she did hear whispers behind her, which made her ear twitch. She raised her eyebrow as she turned around. “Do you want something?” she asked to the troggle, seeing he was coming near her with his arm in the air. “Me? Nothing!” the troggle hid his arms behind his back. The other troggles giggled at him. Gusty heard a creak on the floor. Her ear twitched again. “What about you?” she asked the troggle approaching her from the left. The troggle looked up and whistled with dissimulation. She noticed a troggle opening her bag. “Hey! That´s not yours to take.” she jumped of the bed. “Actually it is. We need to see if you´re not carrying anything suspicious.” a troggle invented. “Really?” another troggle asked surprised. “I thought we were doing that for-” The troggle next to him nudged him, making him whimper. “I mean, yes yes!” Gusty winked with her raised eyebrow, somewhat confused by those troggles´ intentions. “Fair enough. But if you had told me, I would have done so.” she said before she opened her bag with her mouth. The troggles giggled mischievously, thinking Gusty was stupid for having fallen in their trap. They expected some coins but instead all she had were two badly sewn handkerchiefs. “What are these?” “They´re handkerchiefs. I made them myself.” Gusty replied after she closed her bag. “As a gift to the emperor?” a troggle scoffed. “No, just for me. I brought them so I wouldn´t feel alone.” The troggles shared confused looks. “Ok. That´s not weird at all.” a troggle muttered under his breath. “But at least they´re not a gift to the emperor. It would be so disrespectful to give him this trash!” The troggles laughed. Gusty´s ears dropped in embarrassment when she heard the word `trash´. “For being a mare, you´re pretty bad at sewing.” “Yeah? Well, for being troggles you´re not pretty good at your job.” she clapped back. The troggles blinked shocked. Then, they glared at her, which made Gusty chuckle apologetically. “Oops…” she said while walking backwards, seeing that the troggles were advancing towards her. “Well, we´ll let you know that Grogar chose us as his guards for a reason!” the captain troggle said in defence. Gusty widened her eyes. Maybe the troggles´ backstory could give clues. “May I ask why?” she raised her eyebrow with curiosity. “Are you playing us vermin?!” another troggle asked menacingly as he closed his fist. “No no! This is genuine curiosity!” she raised her hooves. Gusty whimpered when her back hit against the wall. “Look, I´m sorry I said that about you, although that commentary was unpleasant to say the least…” she muttered the last part. “But anyway,” she cleared her throat. “Perhaps I didn´t choose the right words. What I meant is how did you end up working for Grogar? I´d like to know the history behind.” A troggle scoffed. “Why would you want to know that?” “Well, I think that you are as bored of waiting as I am. And this could be a chance of entertainment until Bray arrives.” The troggles looked at each other. “I hate to admit it but she does have a point.” another troggle commented. “Alright.” the captain troggle clapped his hands. “Before Grogar turned into an emperor, we were creatures who desired nothing more than riches. And since Grogar promised us that, we accepted.” “But how did you meet Grogar?” The captain troggle was about to answer her question, but Bray opened the door before he could. “Alright, I talked to the emperor and he gave me his consent to-.” When he opened his eyes, he saw the troggles around Gusty. “What are you doing?” he asked confused. “Nothing, we were just talking.” Bray looked perplexed at Gusty. The mare lifted her shoulders. “About what?” he threw her a suspicious glare. “She wanted to know how we ended up working for Grogar.” Bray looked back at Gusty as he raised an eyebrow. If she was working for Majesty, she could have asked something about Grogar´s plans or what was going on in his empire. But the question she asked had nothing to with that. It seemed something out of genuine curiosity. Still, he couldn´t trust her. “Right… Well, I´m afraid that we´re not at a reunion between friends, so get back to work!” he ordered the troggles around Gusty. They nodded and left the room running. “And you, are coming with me.” he told Gusty “Yes sir.” Gusty nodded. They walked through a castle´s corridor. Although he had shown her the whole castle before, Gusty didn´t remember this one. “Um… Excuse me sir, it might be because I still have to get used to this big castle but this corridor doesn´t seem familiar to me at all.” Bray chuckled. “It´s because I hadn´t shown it to you.” “That explains everything.” “You are a curious mare, aren´t you? Always asking questions about everything, such as the troggles.” he said with suspicion masked by fake admiration. “Well…” Gusty took some time to think her answer. “I´ve always been curious about where troggles came from since I was a filly. We all know these creatures that control us. yet we know so little about them.” “You don´t say…” “We might be unintelligent, but we can be curious too.” Gusty said somewhat sarcastically. “Of course! But you´d better be careful with your curiosity. It might lead to consequences you wouldn´t want.” Gusty raised an eyebrow. What did he mean by that? “You might be wondering about why I didn´t show you this corridor. Well, it´s because this leads to the gardens.” he said while opening the door. “It´s so… spikey.” she commented, seeing that it was mostly a labyrinth of thorns but other plants as well. “Like the whole castle…” Bray gave out a fake laugh. “You´re so funny. But you haven´t seen it all. Come along.” Gusty followed the donkey. Since she wasn´t behind, she didn´t notice his malicious smile as he looked back to the castle. At one of the castle´s windows, Grogar was observing both of them, but he had his eye specifically on Gusty. He smirked as he watched her. “So you´re the mare that wants to play, right? Fine, the let´s play.” He chuckled quietly but menacingly.