The narrow ravine between two of the mountains on the island was proving itself to actually be a far easier place to travel through than the cliffs had been. Now that Senax, Daylight, Gilbert, and Breakwater had gotten away from the treacherous coastline and into the dense mountain range there was no shortage of safe paths to walk. The mountains practically sat on top of and leaned into each other, had numerous peaks of their own, and always provided a steady way down in one spot if another was a sheer vertical cliff. Now they were at the bottom of a ravine still on the higher points of the range, safely walking down it and avoiding any cliffs or ledges for the moment.
Daylight looked up at the granite mountains around them, and down at all the loose rock and gravel around her hooves. “You know this reminds me of traveling through the mountains of East Glade a lot. Minus the horrifying monsters.”
“I was thinking that too,” Senax said. “It’s almost like home.”
“It’s a good thing they don’t have the altitude to be snowy either,” Daylight said.
“We don’t need anything else to make this trip slower. We already don’t even know where we’re going,” Breakwater said. “Sure there are a lot of ways to walk through these mountains but I haven’t seen any signs of civilization. If we could just find some carved out steps, or a bridge, or signpost...”
Senax looked ahead to Gilbert, who had point. “Do you see anything like that, Gilbert?”
“Not at all, unfortunately. But down here it’s not like I have a great view,” the griffon replied.
“How much further does the ravine go?” Daylight asked.
“It winds back and forth for a bit longer at least,” Gilbert said.
“If we could find anything like a mountain stream or spring we’d be more likely to find creatures living here,” Breakwater said.
“But we don’t even know if the Lizard People live in these mountains at all,” Daylight shrugged. “They could be down in that jungle, or on the other side of the island. I wouldn’t want to live up here if I could avoid it.”
“You’re not an anthropologist though. Maybe the lizards like the mountains?” Gilbert suggested.
Daylight rolled her eyes. “I suppose they could. Either way it’s not going to change anything unless we actually find something up here.”
When they did eventually come out of the ravine they found themselves on a wide ledge where the mountainside to their left was covered in dry shrubs and the occasional tree while to their right it was another sheer cliff. They could’ve gone down, a bit slowly and carefully, but instead they chose to follow the ledge as it was still the closest thing to a genuine mountain pass they had right now. It curved around the mountain in front of them so they couldn’t see where it ended but at least it was wide enough to be totally safe for them to travel on. The more they walked the greener things were looking too, a few birds were flying in the sky and some rodents were visible running in and out of burrows on the mountains.
Since the path followed the circumference of the mountain from what they could see, they ended up on walking along its western face after just a couple of minutes. Ahead of them now the ledge connected to a plateau jutting out from another mountain just south of the one they were on. A lot of trees and bushes obstructed the path ahead but it looked like it kept going. There were also a lot of boulders and free-standing rock formations along the plateau side that obscure their view of most of the rest of the island and mountain range to the west.
“Least we’re getting somewhere,” Daylight sighed as they started walking through the heavy brush.
“Somewhere with less vines would be nice,” Gilbert said as he struggled to tear down some plants in the way.
“Obviously this is a path not commonly traveled, I guess the inhabitants have no reason to go through the mountains past here,” Breakwater said.
Senax stayed quiet for a second, her webbed ears twitching slightly. “Do you hear something?”
Daylight raised an eyebrow at her. “Something?”
“Yes,” Senax nodded. “I swear I can hear running water coming from just ahead.”
“Maybe we’ve found our mountain spring then,” Breakwater thought as they kept pushing through the brush.
“I hope so, I could go for a drink actually,” Gilbert said as he shoved the low-hanging leafy branches of a tree to the side. “And I think we’re... here...” He stopped at the exit to the vegetation, now staring out at what he saw silently.
Daylight walked up next to him and took a look too, wondering what was up. “Is something—oh.”
Finally Senax and Breakwater got to see what had struck their two friends silent as well. As soon as the trees and bushes ended, the mountain path opened up into a wider area flanked by walls on all sides, but directly opposite from their overgrown path they could see the start of stairs carved into the ground going down from where they were. As for the sound of running water that Senax had heard, it turned out to actually be the sound of a spout of water coming from the mouth of a fish carved into the side of the mountain to their right. The clear water arced into a deep pool directly in front of the fish.
Where a lizard wearing a pink dress was hand washing a basket full of clothes in.
The lizard had frozen up and gone silent just like Gilbert and Daylight when she, or he, or it, had seen them come from the bushes.
Senax blinked repeatedly as she took in the lizard. At least the creature was proof they were in the right place. It was the first time she had seen a creature like this, bipedal, with an oversized head on a small body with long and thin limbs, and a tail coming out the bottom of the dress. Like Senax, the lizard had scales and not hair or fur on its body, but the scales were much bigger and thicker, she could tell that at a glance. The pink dress looked soft and well-taken care of though.
Their eyes met, and the lizard took a sharp intake of breath as both her chameleon eyes locked onto Senax. The lizard dropped the clothes she was washing and stood up, a frantic and high-pitched hissing emerging from her mouth as she almost ran over to Senax. Daylight and Breakwater went to defend Senax if needed, but the lizard dropped to her knees in front of Senax and bowed deeply to the ground.
“Umm...” Senax tilted her head.
The lizard only stayed prostrated with her arms outstretched and repeatedly raised and lowered them, almost like she was worshiping Senax.
"Well this is certainly an interesting turn of events,” Gilbert said as he scratched his beak.
"I think the lizard likes you,” Breakwater said to Senax.
Daylight meanwhile just rubbed her head in confusion.
"H-Hello, um, thank you for this but you don’t need to keep doing it...” Senax said to the lizard.
The lizard quickly raised her head and nodded repeatedly, getting up and reaching a hand to Senax’s leg while pointing in the other direction—to the stairs. “Hiss, hiss, hiss!”
“Does it—she—want us to follow her?” Breakwater asked.
“I think so,” Senax said.
“Do we?” Gilbert glanced to Daylight.
The unicorn shrugged. “She seems friendly... I doubt Senax at least is going to be in any danger.”
“Thank you...” Senax said, a bit uncomfortably, and started walking forward at the behest of the lizard. The basket of clothes had been completely forgotten. She was pulled right to the stairs while the lizard hissed even louder, opening up her wide mouth and almost yelling as Senax and the others started to walk down the stairs. They all saw why the lizard was making such a fuss very quickly.
The stairs led down from the cistern and opened up into a large mesa settled between the various nearby mountains. The mesa itself was covered in stone buildings, more existed higher up the mountainside, others were visible in the distance up other mountains, reachable by both stone bridges and wooden rope bridges. Paths were visible leading every direction either further into the mountains or down towards the jungle. Most eye-catching of all was the large stone steps that went up and up this very mountain, leading to the facade of a castle carved into its western wall.
And of course, the dozens and dozens of Lizard People just like the one they had met wandering around outside. They wore clothes similar to the one guiding them, but a lot wore pants and shirts instead of dresses, making Senax and the others pretty certain this was definitely a she they had met. There were also quite a few smaller lizard children, they had walked right down into a fully functioning mountain town.
“Huh,” Daylight said, mostly at a loss for words.
“I think we might have hit the jackpot in more ways than one,” Gilbert said.
As their guide kept hissing and yelling while bringing Senax to the bottom of the stairs, more and more lizards started to take notice. At first they seemed confused—even frightened when they saw the strange outsiders—but once they saw Senax that all changed. Every lizard, every single one, as soon as they really took a look at Senax dropped what they were doing and rushed over. Dozens of them bowed down in front of her, worshiping her, giving out joy-filled hisses, the children even came forward and tried to touch her to see if she was real.
The perplexed group just stood there, watching.
Senax bit her lip and turned to her friends with an awkward smile. “W-Well at least someone’s happy to see merponies.”
“I’ve been thinking about some stuff, Godfrey. And I need to ask you a question. And I really want a serious answer. Okay?” Rainbow shot up a questioning glance at the griffon pirate.
Godfrey clawed some bright green leaves out of their way so they could keep walking through the jungle. It had been a couple of hours since they had first started their trek through it and it hadn’t really gotten any faster. The trees and vegetation were thick, there was nowhere flat to walk other than the occasional narrow game trail, the humidity was high, and insects constantly buzzed around their heads. It was the most tropical place Rainbow Dash had been to since the Green Divide. So many vines, so many colorful flowers and colorful birds. Every now and then Rainbow heard the screech from some animal in the distance.
The griffon exhaled through his beak and shrugged as he walked over the twisted roots of a tree, Rainbow hopping over them as well. “Ask away then.”
“How did you know we were here? For real. And joining with Bosche and doing all that… it doesn’t seem like you. What’s going on?” She narrowed her eyes at him.
Godfrey stopped and looked down contemplatively at her before bringing a talon up to scratch under his beak. “You know I was thinking some similar things to be honest.”
“Huh?”
“I got a letter,” Godfrey shrugged.
“A letter? What are you talking about?” Rainbow asked.
“I had taken control of a new ship after what happened on the Smoking Island. Did you and your friends even know The Scourge was destroyed? Heh, anyways, I found a new temporary ship to use not long after. Got back to looking for you all pretty quickly but couldn’t find you, figured you were probably hanging around Malkonrik and the rest of the Kingdoms a lot but I didn’t really have the opportunity to skulk about there. With how well-known my face is and without a real crew to back me up anymore I had to stay on the open seas. Enough about that though—the point is that after a little while of coming up with nothing, I woke up and found a letter addressed to me on the ship,” he chuckled in amusement. “Couldn’t tell you how it got there, but it was there. The letter told me where you were going and why, and even how long it would take for you to get there so I’d have perfect timing. It also gave the whole plan for allying with Bosche and the best way to do that. Quite the letter.”
Rainbow Dash felt herself pale as she ground her teeth back and forth. There were only two people she could think of that would—and could—have sent that letter and she really didn’t like either option.
“Of course I don’t like marching to the beat of anyone else’s drum so it’s not like I followed the letter’s plan to a tee or anything,” Godfrey grinned. “I attacked you all on my own, and told you about Bosche on my own too. So things aren’t going quite to plan. But that’s fine with me, I prefer to do things my own way.”
“So you and Bosche were supposed to just get here and take us totally by surprise…” Rainbow groused. “Probably after we found the Necklace.”
“Yep. Instead I’ve decided to sell my allies and benefactor out. Oops. Gehahaha!” Godfrey laughed.
“But why? Why would whoever sent that letter want things to go that way?” Rainbow wondered.
Godfrey shrugged. “Beats me and I couldn’t care less. Not important anymore, is it?”
“Maybe not to you,” Rainbow said.
“Fair enough. I think you joining back up with your friends and finding the Necklace still takes precedence though,” he said.
“Yeah… we might be going the exact opposite direction it’s even in,” Rainbow said as she looked over her shoulder. “We know the Necklace was entrusted to the lizards, so I bet it’s back there in that city.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she looked up at Godfrey. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t think those lizards made that city at all. Didn’t you get a good look at them? Their clothes were all worn out and ragged, they didn’t even use steel weapons, what they had were primitive even for spears, the buildings were falling apart. They’re just squatters. They don’t know how to maintain or build any of that stuff. I bet those rickety wooden buildings I saw in the city were the only buildings actually made by them. If it really is their city, they built it a long, long, time ago and their civilization has gone way downhill since.”
“Like when the Idol of Boreas was lost to Griffonstone…”
“Bingo,” he winked at her. “Though this is something that had to have taken place over a way longer period of time.”
“Well that still doesn’t mean they don’t have the Necklace,” Rainbow said. “It could be locked away in one of those pyramids, or they might’ve forgotten how important it is.”
“I’m just saying I think it’s unlikely. I bet there are other lizards here, somewhere,” Godfrey shrugged.
Rainbow Dash didn’t reply, she returned her attention to the jungle in front of them and kept walking through the thick vegetation. By the looks of it they still had a long way to go.