//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 // Story: H A Z E // by Bandy //------------------------------// Blue’s wail produced a magical shockwave. It lifted Hypha forcefully into the air and tossed him backwards into the tall grass. The surprise and physical force of the impact left Hypha dazed. He took a second to collect himself and rearrange the last few hours of his memories—the fall, the wait, the wail. Recalling the last one, he leapt to his hooves and raced back to Blue. “Can you do that again?” he asked breathlessly. Blue shot him a caustic look and curled up against Red’s side. “Right.” The excitement drained away. “Sorry.” Falling back on his experience in Roseroot, he did his best to guide them through the remainder of the trip. Both Red and Blue were borderline catatonic. They melted deeper into the darkness the more Hypha tried to pull them out. All of his well-intentioned questions—how much did you take, when did you take it, did you see any snow leopards—went unanswered. A sound further up the trail caught Red’s attention. Her ears perked up. “Someone’s coming,” she said. Her voice was all copper coins and powderized glass. “Are you sure?” Hypha asked. “I don’t hear anything.” Red found her second wind. She stood up and placed Blue’s limp body over her back. Then she trudged west. Hypha wheeled around to follow before the grass shifted and erased her trail. They walked for perhaps an hour before Red’s strength failed and she collapsed in the dirt. Hypha started clearing the tall grass around her like Red had done that first night outside Median, but she waved him off. “There’s pegasi,” she said, pointing to the monolith of the steppe jutting from the horizon. It looked free of pegasi to Hypha, but he didn’t want to argue the point. “No camp. This is fine.” In a few minutes’ time, the wind erased Hypha’s efforts. The grass bowed over them, first from right to left, then left to right, then up to down and down to up. It formed a shifting cocoon over them. The three squeezed in tight with their bodies pressed against the earth as dawn broke over them. Blue was tiny, Hypha realized. Especially for an earth pony. Even if she had been born a different race, she would have been miniscule. His saddlebags looked comically large attached to her. “Hypha,” Red croaked. “Yeah?” “Tell me why you’re helping us. I’ll know if you’re lying.” “Do you not want my help?” Her lips curled back in a pained smile. “Heh. I don’t know. Prairie Sky stole your special mushrooms, and you hit him in the head with a rock.” She nodded beside Hypha, where the edge of a sharp stone protruded from the dirt. “You could do it right now. We’re in no shape to fight back.” “I’m not... no.” Hypha sighed. “Prairie Sky was trying to subvert our order. He’s no different than the legionaries who attacked Roseroot. What you did was wrong. But you didn’t know what you were doing. You didn’t know what would happen if you partook.” “Wow, you’re a real saint. So kind.” Red lapsed into silence for awhile, not once taking her eyes off him. Just when Hypha started to wonder if she’d fallen asleep with her eyes open, she nodded towards Blue and asked, “You saw what happened to her?” "Yeah." Red nodded slowly. Her jaw worked from side to side, muddling a response. "That's why we're gonna kill him." Hypha paled. “Her dad did that?” “She was eight. I’m gonna kill him on the steps of his mansion so everyone can see.” “You said you found something about him in.” Hypha swallowed a lump in his throat. “In the temple.” Red nodded and patted her own saddlebag. “He goes here every year, apparently. We missed him by three weeks.” She shook her head. “He booked a sky chariot through the monastery. What kind of pegasus doesn’t want to fly?” The question did not strike Hypha as needing an answer. “Where’s home?” he asked instead. “Derecho.” Derecho. Several pieces of a very large and obscure puzzle clicked together in Hypha’s mind. “That’s where you’re going next?” “Hypha—” “Let’s go there together.” “We’re not going anywhere with you.” “Hear me out. Please.” Red shook her head, but stopped short of saying no. Hypha took this as a sign to continue. “Prairie Sky... said Romulus marched through here on the way to the Stonewood mountains. When they’re done killing monks, they’ll go back to Derecho. I can catch him there.” “And do what? Kill him?” “Yes.” His fur stood up on end. Kill Romulus. Of course. This was why mother sky cast him all the way out here. She was starting him on a journey to Derecho! Blue stirred. Red put her lips to Blue’s ear and went, “Shhh.” Blue’s eyes fluttered, then closed again. In a quieter voice, Red said to Hypha, “He has an entire legion around him. You won’t even get close.” “I’ll find a way.” Determination stoked a fire in Hypha’s belly. Killing seemed antithetical to the mission of the order. But why else would mother sky have spared him? Why else would he be here right now, traveling west? Why else would he have done that to Prairie Sky? Why? Neither mare stopped him when he undid the one remaining clasp connecting his saddlebag to Blue and took his pack back. A look inside revealed they’d eaten a full quarter of the bag’s contents. No wonder they had such a significant magic surge, even with the less-powerful version of the mushrooms. “Either you’re indecisive, or you genuinely don’t want to hurt us. Either way, it’ll be safer if we travel together.” “Thank you.” “Don’t thank you. If you follow through with this, you’re going to die.” “As long as I take him with me.” “Fine. I don’t care either way. I’m just letting you know.” “You don’t think I can do it?” Hypha asked. "You don't believe me?" In a voice as soft as the kiss of grass on the nape of his neck, Red said, “I believe you." Dawn went on. Red and Blue came down with the moon. The light in the sky above seemed different than any sunrise Hypha had ever seen. He peered up from the grass on his hind legs like a prairie dog and saw a double sunrise lit up the western horizon. Plumes of gray smoke billowed from a massive fire burning atop Canary’s Cage. Flickering reds and yellows danced in the ashes. The entire steppe smoldered like the tip of a burning incense stick. Slowly, like firelight fading, Hypha realized it was a funeral pyre.