Princess Fairscale was terrified for many reasons right now. Number one was actually the fact that she was flying for the first time in her life and it was far scarier than she could ever imagine. The ground looked so far away. If she was dropped she’d turn into a puddle when she finally hit it. The jungle was passing by swiftly, the great wings of the one carrying her made for a fast way to travel. And of course that was the number two thing that terrified her. The fact that she was still the hostage of this monster and he had repeatedly threatened to kill her. The number three thing was that she knew where he was taking her and what kind of ponies were now there, waiting for them.
“You know you really shouldn’t be too upset.”
The voice of Godfrey cut through her thoughts and she managed to turn her head up to look at his face.
He was grinning as he looked straight ahead, eyes already focused on the ancient city to the west. He could easily see it at this height and distance. Boy did it feel good to fly again and not be stuck in that jungle.
His head tilted down slightly at her when she didn’t respond, everything about him seeming amused. “What I mean is, since you’re a Princess you’ll probably be a really valuable slave. You’ll probably spend the rest of your life in luxury. Maybe even a nice little consort to the Emperor of Bosche. That aint so bad, is it? Sure better than what those savages in the city are going to be getting.”
Princess Fairscale whimpered.
“Heh. Guess that’s not very happy sounding to you. But it’s only a little fair that you get enslaved too, right? These lizards you’ve always called savages and looked down on shouldn’t get all the suffering, should they? Geha!” Godfrey laughed. “Well, I’m not the type for moral grandstanding, couldn’t really care less about irony or poetic justice, but you gotta admit it’s funny.”
“Please… please don’t do this. Please take me back, we won’t harm you, just let me go,” Princess Fairscale begged.
Godfrey actually paused in the air and raised an eyebrow at her. “Even though I’m taking the Necklace with me? Aren’t you supposed to be loyal to merponies and Ponyseidon? You’re saying you’d let me go with this thing as long as I take you to safety?”
The Princess froze up, her eyes looking from him to the Necklace he wore. She thought of Senax, the matriarch, their mission. “I-I-I...”
“Not so easy to decide when your life is on the line, huh?” Godfrey smirked. “First time in your whole life you’ve ever been in a bad situation personally isn’t it. Even knowing Bosche was attacking—it’s not like you were in danger. Well, Princess? Are you going to let me go free or not?”
The question wracked at her brain, tearing into her spirit and willpower. Finally she clenched her hands into fists and icily looked back at him. “No. Never. We will never let you take the Necklace from Senax.”
“Ooohhh, good answer.” Godfrey nodded. “I think I might actually like you a little bit now.”
“You won’t get away with this, you monster,” Fairscale glared at him.
“Like I’ve never heard that line before,” Godfrey rolled his eyes and resumed the flight to the city. “You know if you don’t want to be a slave I could just drop you now if that’s better?”
She practically grabbed onto him for safety, curling up in fright. “No please don’t!”
“Gehahahaha!” Godfrey laughed. “Relax Princess, I’m just kidding around with you. I want a little gift to give the Boschese so they hold off on trying to kill me for a second or two out of gratitude—then telling them they’ll need me to guide them to your lizards up in the mountain when we return so they think I’m valuable. All I’ll need is a little opportunity to get a boat and get away from their fleet.”
Princess Fairscale’s jaw dropped as she stared at him.
“Hm? Oh, you don’t need to worry about that, it’s not like I’ll actually be coming back here with them to help enslave those lizards you rule over. Like I said I just want a ship so I can get back out onto the Grand Ocean. I can fly pretty far but even my wings need to rest sometime and I don’t fancy dying out in the middle of nowhere after finally getting this Necklace. The Boschese just need to think I’m going to help them in the future.”
“You’re horrible… a monster made of lies and deceit who cares only for himself! You defile that Necklace, you defile the entire ocean!” She cried at him.
“Yeah I’ve heard a lot of stuff like that too. You know how I deal with it? By not caring. So what if I only care about myself? I’m the only guy who matters caring about,” Godfrey grinned. “Keep up the insults though—I like it when others have the will to talk back, shows you’ve got a spine. Makes me admire you a little bit more.”
“I don’t want your admiration,” Princess Fairscale spat.
He shrugged. “It’s a rare commodity though, you should be happy to have it.”
“Disgusting...”
“Gehaha! Well you won’t have to put up with me for much longer. Soon you’ll be in the hooves of Bosche. I wonder—after a year or two as their slave—will you look back on this flight with me with fondness? Your life in Bosche might really put everything else into perspective.”
The Princess didn’t respond, she merely whimpered as tears started falling freely from her eyes.
“Heh, guess a Princess’s spirit can only go so far,” Godfrey chuckled.
After that he started to dive lower towards the city now that he was closer. His large wings were still a little sore from being chained up for so long but they were starting to feel much better with blood pumping through them again. Truthfully he wanted to soar even higher into the sky and have some fun—but he was also on a timetable. The aerial acrobatics would have to wait. His guest on the flight probably wouldn’t appreciate suddenly being dragged along at mach speeds either.
And now that they were closer to the western side of the island and city, Godfrey could see out into the clear ocean waters that were no longer dominated by fog and whirlpools. What he saw made him grin.
The dozens of Bosche ships from their slaving fleet were already arrayed in a net off the west coast of the Lost Isle and quite a few had dropped anchor right off shore. Now as he descended to the city, he could both see and hear the chaos unfolding in it. Dozens of squads of Boschese soldiers, in leather armor with chainmail beneath, polearms and axes at the ready, gathered and directed captive lizards in the direction of the coast. It seemed what fighting had taken place earlier was already squashed. The lizards had no chance against the Bosche army with their superior weapons and experience. Godfrey could make out hundreds of lizards, some already in chains, being made to march in lines down the roads of the ancient city.
“Well, well, well, the city’s already been sacked. Guess we won’t be staying around for too long,” Godfrey said as he swooped low enough to scrape the top of the pyramids.
When it came to the slaves they were gathering, Bosche didn’t discriminate. Male or female, young or old, every single lizard was being rounded up and taken. They seemed intent on emptying out the entire city. Godfrey couldn’t exactly blame them—they didn’t know as much as he did, right now all they thought they were doing was being thorough. They saw very valuable slaves and they didn’t want the possibility of missing out on any of them.
“They may be idiots but they sure do take slaving seriously,” Godfrey shook his head and chuckled.
“How can you laugh at this...” Princess Fairscale whispered as she looked down at the city in horror.
“Easily enough,” he sarcastically answered. “I mean, I don’t see how anyone could not find this amusing? Right after being promised safety, peace, and freedom by that beloved merpony of yours, here comes a whole fleet of invaders to enslave them. It’s comical. I don’t even consider myself a true sadist or anything but this whole situation just makes me laugh.”
“She’ll keep her promise… it’ll have already been kept if it wasn’t for you,” Fairscale bristled.
He was too busy looking back and forth around the city to find the Boschese commanders to answer, they had to be here directing the raid and not sitting on the ship, he knew how these things worked. At the base of the pyramid he had walked up only earlier today, he was fairly certain he had found what he was looking for. Godfrey flew down in a wide arc, slow on his approach, just so the Boschese could see him coming.
Admiral Bin’Tavy was quite recognizable in his gaudy getup, and Godfrey could tell that at least one of the others there was an admiral based on his dress as well. Most of the rest were rank and file soldiers acting as guards.
Those ones were naturally wary as Godfrey came down and landed right in front of them.
He had killed so many of their comrades after all.
Godfrey looked around at the circle of soldiers, weapons at the ready as they eyed him. He scoffed and raised an eyebrow at their leader. “Well, Bin’Tavy, looks like you got to work pretty fast here.”
The admiral frowned for an instant at the disrespectful way of address but quickly smiled at Godfrey. “And we have you to thank for this prize. Who might your… friend be by the way?” Bin’Tavy asked as he glanced at Fairscale, still tightly held in one of Godfrey’s talons.
“Well this here is a Princess. A prized slave you might say,” Godfrey grinned. “She rules over another group of lizards that live in the mountains to the east?”
“You don’t say?” Admiral Bin’Tavy’s eyes widened with surprise and greed. He felt equal joy towards having this Princess now as he did knowing there were even more Lizard People to grab.
“Yeah but they’ll have to be saved for your next trip here. They’re pretty entrenched in those mountains and with all the lizards here I’d say you’ve got your hooves full already. I mean, just looking around I’d say you can’t spare any soldiers for doing anything else right now. You might lose control of all your slaves, wouldn’t want a revolt to happen here or onboard your fleet now, right?” Godfrey ever so slightly narrowed his eyes at Bin’Tavy.
The Admiral flinched and stood up straight before recomposing himself and frowning at Godfrey. “No… we wouldn’t want that at all. And yes, most of our soldiers are occupied right now.”
Princess Fairscale looked back and forth at the two of them, there was clearly another conversation going on right now between the lines.
“That’s fine, I’ll be happy to come back here and help you again next time. Those lizards up in the mountains will be more compliant when they see me, they’ll want to know what happened to their precious Princess,” Godfrey said.
“Indeed. Well despite our… past differences you have proven yourself quite useful of an ally today. I suppose it would be good to have you along for future raids of this island,” Admiral Bin’Tavy said.
“Sure would!” Godfrey grinned, he let go of the Princess and shoved her towards the Admiral. “Here—think of her as your own personal slave for now. Now once you’re done rounding up these lizards in the city we should go back and celebrate on your ship. I’ll tell you everything you want to know about the rest of this island when we’re on the way back to Bosche.”
Princess Fairscale stumbled forward, falling to the ground. She grimaced and looked up at Bin’Tavy—seeing him smiling an empty smile at Godfrey. The both of them were full of nothing but faux-kindness to the other right now. It was clear the Admiral was caught off guard by some of the things Godfrey had said, but Fairscale didn’t exactly know what the big deal or story between the two of them was. The other well-dressed pony here was wary as well, while the soldiers were standing like stone statues, watching and waiting for any order that might come.
After a moment, Admiral Bin’Tavy finally glanced down to look at her. “Hm, well you certainly are cleaner and quite a bit healthier looking than the other lizards we’ve found. And your dress is in far better shape than any of their clothes.” He peered closer at her face. “Those pink spots… quite intriguing as well, you are a unique one aren’t you? There was another lizard we found, shouting and angry, speaking in a broken version of our own tongue, that had red spots. He spoke of himself as a leader but you’re far more regal in appearance.”
A genuine smile came to his face. “I’ll find a good spot for you back home. You’ll be quite popular.”
“You’re a monster...” Princess Fairscale glared at him. “You’re just as bad as he is.”
Admiral Bin’Tavy immediately frowned, his blue eyes becoming harsh. “You would do well to remember not to speak out of turn from here on. Especially if you are going to say such quarrelsome things. I am Admiral Bin’Tavy, highest officer of the Bosche Fleet, you can’t compare me to a vulgar, murderous pirate. Soon you will learn to appreciate Bosche’s greatness, slave.”
“Heh,” Godfrey merely snickered in amusement.
Bin’Tavy looked over at him with a placating, and patronizing, smile. “Do forgive me the insult.”
“Oh, no offense taken,” Godfrey rolled his eyes.
“Well then, I believe we’ll be done here shortly and we can get back to our fleet,” Bin’Tavy said and looked at his other officer. “Tuon?”
Admiral Tuon nodded. “Yes, sir, we can leave soon. The rest of the soldiers should be about done with corralling the lizards to the ships.”
“Wonderful!” Bin’Tavy raised an eyebrow at Godfrey. “Would you then carry this Princess to my vessel with the rest of us? Since she’s a gift I believe I’ll keep her close.”
“No problem,” Godrey shrugged.
Meanwhile, Princess Fairscale cried, her tears peppering the yellow ground around the pyramid.
“Oh don’t be so sad, as a slave of Bosche you’ll live a far more meaningful life than you ever could have—even as a Princess of another island. Soon you’ll be praising Bosche’s greatness as well,” Admiral Bin’Tavy said to her. A wide smile was on his face as he looked around them at the other squads of soldiers and lines of enslaved lizards marching through the city to the coast. “This day has been just perfect. All of Bosche will memorialize it in the future.”
“Hm...” Godfrey hummed to himself as he glanced over his shoulder—looking to the east and the mountains beyond the jungle. “You ever hear of the phrase “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”, Bin’Tavy?”
The Admiral frowned. “I… do not believe so.”
Godfrey’s face was blank for a moment as he kept staring at those mountains before his beak twitched upwards into the smallest possible smirk. “Never mind then, let’s get going. You want to enjoy your prize as much as you can after all.”