Endless darkness stretched above me, like a pitch-black, starless night.
The dim stone walls surrounding me lacked any sort of ceiling. A heavy wooden door stood at the edge of my vision, and the smell of mildew assaulted my nose. Had I fallen asleep in a ruined old house? Judging by my piercing headache, I was hungover, though my stomach was unusually calm.
How in the Sun’s name did you get yourself into this mess, Silver?
Standing up proved to be a mistake, because it drove a red-hot spike through my head. As I rubbed my temples, eyes shut, somepony sighed next to me.
I opened my eyes to see Halterdawn’s reddish-brown form sitting on a wooden cot, much like my own. Images of last night flooded into my mind. A carriage. Griffins. A fight. My head being slammed into cobblestone.
“Where… where in Tartarus are we?” I asked, surprised to still be alive.
“You just answered your own question, kid,” he monotoned.
I tilted my head and blinked at him. What kind of bloody explanation was that? Were all nobles this cryptic?
He groaned. “We are in The Tower. At the very bottom, apparently. They tossed us in while you were unconscious.”
“The… Tower? You mean like, The Tower? Like the one looming over the western coastline? The one you can still see from Trottingham? That Tower?”
Halterdawn rolled his eyes. “How many other places called The Tower do you know of?”
“Well, it looks like we’re underground, so can you blame me for finding it all a bit odd?” Damn it, my tone came across as defensive!
“Sweet Sun,” he muttered. “Why do I bother?”
“What gives? Do you have to be so bloody rude?” Yesterday, he’d been so grateful for delivering that letter to him that he offered me a ride. Today, this? And why did he expect me to know things like that? I was just a trainee guard!
He glared at me. “Oh, forgive me for not wanting to spend my last day pretending to be nice to some annoying brat.”
“I’m fifty-five years old! That’s old enough to drink!” Bloody Hades!
“I don’t care. You act like a child, so I treat you like one. You could be sixty, or even seventy, but with your attitude, I’d still call you a kid.” He huffed. “Maybe by the time you’re half my age, you’ll understand.”
My headache spiked as I gritted my teeth. Why did nopony take me seriously? Was it my height? But that was normal for pegasi! I grunted. “You could at least show a little gratitude for trying to save your ass.” Too bad that griffins were cheaters who used size and raw muscle power to overcome their terrible flight. Oh, and there had been six of them. Cheaters.
“Please, don’t make me laugh.” Halterdawn scoffed. “You’re the reason I’m in this mess to begin with.”
“What‽” My headache made me regret my outburst. “I tried to bloody save you, how is this my fault?”
“I suppose you wouldn’t know.” He shrugged, huffing. “Your house betrayed you, just like they betrayed me. Not that I ever trusted them.”
My ears perked up, and I tilted my head. “What’d they do?”
Halterdawn groaned, staring at me flatly. “Do I really have to explain everything to you?”
My tail gave a flick. Sweet bloody Sun, did he want me to smack him?
“The letter you delivered. Bait.” He spat the word out like it was poisonous. “From your employers. A made-up emergency in the capital to draw me out and lower my guard, only to then have mercenaries lie in ambush.” He gave a mirthless chuckle. “Guess that explains why they would send a peasant kid to deliver such an important message, huh. Probably didn’t expect you to hitch a ride with me, did they?”
I jumped out of bed. “I’m. Not. A kid!” I stomped my hooves twice, then winced as my headache spiked again. I needed to stop doing that. “Pearflower told me she picked me for the assignment because I’m the only pegasus on guard payroll, and that the Hockneys didn’t trust a griffin to deliver something as important. They didn’t even tell me what was in that letter!”
Halterdawn, the bastard, only rolled his eyes. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
With a flap of my wings, I took to the air. “If you’re gonna be like that, don’t count on my help to leave this place.”
“Yeah, as if anypony ever leaves The Tower,” Halterdawn muttered, but I ignored his melodrama. If this Tower was so dangerous, why didn’t he say so to begin with?
I flipped on my back. Partly to look at the infinite void above me. Partly to check if my wings still worked—they did. Partly to show off. Just a little. Then again, Halterdawn probably didn’t understand how awesome of a trick it was to fly upside down. He wasn’t the brightest.
With another flap, I bolted up out of the cell, leaving behind the grouchy stallion.
Or so I would have liked. Instead, I bumped head first into an invisible ceiling, then fell back to the ground like a rock.
The world now spinning, I cursed under my breath. And my headache just got worse. Amazing. Bloody amazing.
“Kid, you’re better off calming down and resting,” Halterdawn said in his bored monotone. “You have a concussion, and it’s only going to get worse if you keep buzzing around like that.”
I rolled my eyes. He just had to use his big words to try and embarrass me further. Well, I wouldn’t let him… As soon as the damn world stopped spinning.
He sighed. “Or not. Hades if I care.”
I lay on the ground for a few minutes, catching my breath all while contemplating going to sleep here and now. At least it would pass the time, right? Stars above, I was gonna be so bored.
The hard, cold stone floor was quickly becoming uncomfortable. I sat up on my rump and took another look around the cell.
It wouldn’t do me any good, but I might as well. To my surprise, I proved myself wrong in just a few seconds. Underneath the wooden plank I’d woken up on sat a chest. Curious, I pulled it out and opened it.
Inside, I found my guard tunic, crossbow and bolts, as well as the rest of my belongings. I furrowed my brow. “Why in Tartarus would they lock us up with our weapons…?” Glad to finally have something to drink, I took a sip from my canteen.
This made absolutely no sense. None at all! Unless… we weren’t meant to be locked up? I stood up, head spinning briefly, and walked towards the door. I tried the handle, and it opened.
I turned to Lord Halterdawn with what I could only hope was an expression of utter disappointment. “Seriously‽ You didn’t even try to open the bloody door of the cell you’re locked up in?” I had an excuse, I’d assumed he’d tried it already.
“Why would I? What would be the point of leaving this cell? Do you really not understand where we are?” Hey, why did he talk like I was the idiot here?
“Well, we’re in The Tower, like you said?” I shrugged. What about this bloody Tower made it so scary to him?
Yet again, he groaned. “I really can’t stand idiots…”
Okay, screw this guy. He may be cranky after being thrown in here, but he didn’t have to take it out on me. “Alright then, I’m off to find a way out.” While I slipped into my garb and put on my saddlebags, the ground and walls shook. I might have been knocked off my hooves if not for my wings. Halterdawn, however, was surprised only at first, but then returned to his resigned expression.
My jaw dropped, and I furrowed my brow, shaking my head. “Seriously? You’re not even fazed by that‽”
He was exactly as annoyed as before. “I was, the first three times it occurred. It just happens, deal with it.”
“Okay, how long was I out? How long have we been here?”
“I lost track of time. That’s how long.” After rolling his eyes, he sighed. “Maybe half a day?”
I had somewhere to be! I couldn’t risk having Pearflower believe I forgot about my duties! Or worse, that I was skipping them on purpose! At this rate, I’d never outpace the other recruits!
“Well, I gotta go for real now, was good talking to you or whatever.” If he wanted to stay here, that would be his choice.
This place was laid out like a maze. A quarter hour later, I was already lost. At least I wasn’t going in circles. Probably. I couldn’t tell for sure.
The brick walls barely lit by weird, metallic lamps all looked the same. On top of that, every corridor and every room had this weird ceiling that stretched out infinitely far when viewed from the floor, but turned out to be plain brick when I flew towards it. So not quite invisible.
Out in the hallways, the illusory ceiling was slightly taller. Not by much, just enough that I’d gotten my hopes up, only to be disappointed when it turned out to be solid. In a way, I was glad this was all just an illusion, because the idea of such a vast stretch of endless void above me hurt my bloody sanity.
Really, the only thing nice about the current situation was how light my body felt, even with the hunger and headache. At least when I was airborne. Hades, in my current state, flying was easier than walking.
The entire building shook again, knocking me out of my loop of thoughts. I let myself fall two paces to see if anything was happening to the walls inside the illusory ceiling. Not that anything could happen, given that they weren’t real. They couldn’t be.
However, by the time I’d created enough distance, everything had gone back to normal. Then again, it just meant that nothing had changed at all. The lack of insight was disappointing, but—
Was that a flyer? Somepony inside the ceiling?
“Okay, weird.” It almost made me reconsider my complete and utter certainty about the illusion, but I wouldn’t fall for cheap tricks like that.
However, the silhouette letting out a piercing screech and diving towards me quickly changed my mind. I pulled back my crossbow’s string and loaded a bolt. This pony might still be friendly, but I didn’t want to take my chances.
She soon landed in front of me, seemingly unbothered by the artificial ceiling. So that definitely wasn’t an illusion. One-way force-field, then? Were those even a thing? But then, the endless dark would—No time to think about that, Silver!
Her—his?—face obscured by the dark, she took a step towards me. Her black wings weren’t feathered, instead reflecting light much like polished leather would.
“Hi?” My voice wavered, but hopefully that would help me come across as non-combative. I was in no shape to fight.
I’d talked to a few saro… saroj… to a few batponies before. I knew what they looked like and that they weren’t all too different from us pegasi. They lived several decades longer in general—at least I’d met some that were over a hundred years old—but were still outlived by earth ponies, let alone unicorns, who could somehow live twice as long. Still, they were usually more than happy to chat with a fellow flyer. This filly? Not so much, judging by the caution she put into every step forward.
As it stepped towards me and into the light, its features became clear. It didn’t take a genius to realise that this thing was far from friendly as it hissed at me.
Its fur and eyes were entirely black, and its fanged mouth hung open. It hissed again, lunging and spreading its wings. I flapped mine, launching myself backwards before raising my crossbow. The bolt skewered its right eye, and the monster collapsed, spewing glowing green from its wound.
In a swift, practised movement, I flipped around to avoid losing my balance from the bolt’s recoil—even though it wasn’t strictly needed for such a small crossbow.
Finally something I could take on! If that was all this place had in store for me, I had nothing to worry about. No wonder Halterdawn was so scared; if he couldn’t fight, and if he didn’t trust my ability to protect him, of course he’d be afraid.
But this was only a monster. I was brought up as a bloody hunter, I knew how to handle those! Just had to outspeed or outsmart them. Unlike griffins, who clearly had no problem outsmarting an idiot like me. No wonder the captain didn’t trust me with anything important.
Not the time for self-pity, Silver.
With my shoe’s hook, I drew my crossbow’s string back and flew upside down towards the ground—a trick that filled me with pride even during such a tense moment. Not only was it hard to pull off in normal times, but being able to do it under pressure? Took months of daily practice, even for a natural like myself.
Come on, Silver, stop getting bloody distracted!
When I dropped down, there were two more black shapes moving around up there, both coming my way. I lamented not being able to shoot through the ceiling, but didn’t let it slow me.
Actually… I didn’t know that. Maybe it only blocked ponies from passing. I took aim at the leftmost bat-creature-thing and shot… only for my bolt to lodge itself in the ceiling. Not surprising, but still disappointing.
Either due to bad timing, or because they’d heard me, both creatures started diving towards me. Frantically reloading, I managed to dodge the first bat as it landed, only for its buddy to cut off the path ahead of me. Seriously, how unfair was this? I wasted no time complaining and shot the one in front as it lunged. I dodged its dead body with ease.
The piercing screech of another thing reached my ears, but I couldn’t afford to look now, not when I was already surrounded. Worse yet, I was starting to run out of bolts. I had, what, three left? What if it was less? Should I recount to make sure?
No time for that. I turned around at the last moment as the bat lunged. Pushing myself away with everything I had, I barely managed to avoid its fangs, only one of them scraping the base of my neck. The gash was far more bark than bite, burning horribly, but not actually dangerous.
Again, I poured every last ounce of strength and magic into my wings in an attempt to stop myself from crashing into the wall. My efforts failed me, and the shock knocked the wind out of my lungs.
The world spun. Two seconds weren’t enough to catch my breath, but they were all I could afford right now. I was lucky I hadn’t slammed my head against the brick wall.
Before the bat could reach me, I took off and flew as fast as possible, leaving it in the dust. A mindless beast had no chance of keeping up with me.
I slowed down to take a turn without pushing my limits. I immediately regretted that decision when I found myself a mere few paces away from a kneeling monster. Damn it, if I’d been faster, I could have dashed past! Now it would have time to lunge.
A third bat suffered a rough landing far away from me, one of its bones snapping noisily under the impact. I took the briefest of moments to thank my luck that those things weren’t good flyers.
That short instant almost proved fatal, as the bat in front of me lunged. Led by instinct, I spread my wings, lowered my head, and spun my whole body backward. I clenched my teeth. The stress nearly ripped every tendon in my wings, but the manoeuvre allowed me to duck underneath the jaws snapping shut where my head had been a fraction of a second ago.
The next moment, I was perfectly aligned to dump the excess momentum with a four-hooved buck right into its barrel. It crashed into the ceiling, skull cracking loudly enough to echo. Meanwhile, I found myself tossed to the ground with enough force to stun me for Stars knew how long. A moment later, the beast fell next to me with a thump.
The world spun, my ears rang. Bloody Hades!
It wasn’t as rough as my previous encounter with the wall, but I knew I was in trouble. I had to get up, but I just didn’t have the time! Wherever I moved, I wouldn’t have enough momentum to dodge those other two!
Screaming swears inside my head, I desperately scrambled to stand up. When I heard them pounce in near unison, I knew it was too late to get out of the way. A flash of genius crossed my mind at the last moment.
I turned onto my back and gave a flap of my wings, sending a gust of wind upwards. It wasn’t quite as strong as I had hoped, since the floor blocked my range of movement, but it was enough to make both monsters miss.
This bought me some time, but not enough to flee, especially as the abomination that I’d sent into the ceiling was already recovering, somehow still alive. By the time I was back on my hooves, a dagger landed by them with a clink.
What? Where did that come from?
No time to think.
With practised ease, I slotted it into my front right horseshoe, right as the bat in front of me leapt again. A single flap of my wings later, I dodged backwards. Its jaw slammed shut right before my neck, its foul breath hot on my fur. That left it wide open. With one slice, I slit its throat, and its glowing green blood seeped into my coat. Don’t think.
I pulled it over me, its remaining momentum helping me pivot mid-air. I kicked the corpse backwards at the bat ready to lunge, using it as a springboard to fly away in the opposite direction.
That left me to deal with the bat on the other side. Were there more? I was starting to lose track of them. Don’t think. It threw itself at me.
Adrenaline and a good weapon on my side, I had nothing to fear. Now that I was used to the height of the corridor, I comfortably dodged up. Pushing myself off the ceiling, I plunged the dagger through the back of its skull before it could even react. Would that be enough to kill it? Don’t think.
Air currents alerted my feathers to another monster diving for me. The creature slammed into me, pinning me to the ground, my blade still stuck in the skull. Before I could break out, the bat brought down its fangs on the base of my neck, barely above my right shoulder.
My skin opposed them for a horrifying fraction of a second before ripping under the stress.
When it scraped my collarbone, I screamed in pain and threw my head back. My awkward headbutt hurt me more than my opponent, but it gave me a brief opening. On their way out, the fangs tore my flesh, and I bit my lip to avoid screaming.
That window was all I needed to turn onto my back, kick it off me, and pull out my blade. In the same motion, I swung the dagger at its face, splattering the nearby wall with my own blood. The blow was a lot weaker and slower than expected, allowing the bat to dodge backwards.
Flapping my wings, I fell back and reloaded my crossbow. The bat didn’t immediately lunge, staring at me instead. Was it wary? Were these things smarter than I thought? I had no idea if it would take the opening the moment I shot, but I didn’t want to risk it. Somehow, neither did it, because it watched me leave.
Now that I had a few seconds to breathe, questions assaulted my mind. What in Tartarus were those things? Who gave me that knife? Where the Hades was I? Would I survive this wound? That was a lot of blood pouring down my back. I clutched my neck with my good leg, wincing at the deep hole and strip of flesh.
As I arrived at a corner, my second question was answered. Halterdawn cowered behind it, occasionally taking a peek at me. “Thanks for the dagger,” I told him.
“You’re probably more effective with it than me. You better protect me with it.” He scoffed. The nerve of that pony. If he didn’t at least help me net my well-deserved promotion after this—
Another bat turned the corner ahead of us. Bloody Hades, I needed to rest up and tend to my wounds!
I’d gone past a few rooms with actual ceilings when flying around aimlessly earlier. If we could find one of them, it would be a defensible position. Hopefully it would give me enough time to stop the bleeding.
But I had to take a gamble first.
“Follow me.” I flew back where I’d come from. A bat was walking towards us, intent but under no pressure. Was it still the same one? It didn’t have any blood on its muzzle.
I tried to keep my neck steady as I approached it, but the seesaw motion of flight seemed to put more and more stress on the wound. I bit my lip and ignored the pain as I pushed on.
Finally close enough, I took aim and pulled the trigger. The bat didn’t dodge, and my bolt pierced into its skull. A shiver ran down my spine.
Then came a thud from behind me. I spun around, ready to impale the bat on my dagger. However, the only creature behind me was Halterdawn, sprawled out on the ground.
“Get up!” Stars above, if he slowed me down…
While I loaded another bolt—one left—he stood up and huffed. “I slipped on your blood!” He pointed at my chest.
“Gee, sorry about that. Lemme just bleed less, why don’t I?” Did I even have a reason to not leave him to die right now? What in Tartarus was his problem?
Two more abominations dropped at the end of the corridor, and I heard the flap of wings of the one above us. It dove at Halterdawn, but I intercepted it mid-flight and slit its throat. As little effort as it was, I still found myself panting, my vision blurring.
I bolted into the nearby room and closed the door right behind Halterdawn. It didn’t have a solid ceiling, but this had to do for now. “Hide under the bed,” I ordered while looking for anything to slow the bleeding. I quickly settled on some dirty rags haphazardly draped over a suspended plank.
As the bats banged on the door—there were now at least four on the other side, judging by the frequency—I tied the cloth around my torso as tightly as I could. This wouldn’t be good enough to stop the bleeding, but it was better than nothing, right? As grim as this situation looked, at least there weren’t any shadows above us anymore.
Hah. I just had to think that. I just fucking had to.
More silhouettes than I could count with my blurry vision appeared above us, rapidly circling down. Was this my end? It couldn’t be. I was way too good a fighter to die in such stupid circumstances. But then, what else could I do? Pray for a miracle? I needed reinforcements, not a Sun-damned miracle.
A bat landed in front of me. I sluggishly raised my dagger against it, only for it to sidestep my blow and knock my leg aside. I took another swing at the silhouette, but it caught my hoof.
With more mental energy than I could spare, I focused the world into sharpness. This was no mindless zombie, but an actual batpony. She wore midnight blue half plate armour, dark grey fur showing through the few gaps in it. In normal times, I could definitely take her on.
Her eyes assessed me with a mixture of concern and fear, but she wasn’t hostile. My body only needed this one realisation to give out, and my legs buckled underneath me.
The room was spinning still, and my ears were ringing louder and louder. The edges of my vision were, too, growing ever darker, but I was still able to see another bat land in front of me. He was gigantic. “Where is that noble?” he barked.
Taking a step towards me, the mare pulled a bottle from her belt.
The stallion pointed at me. “And who’s this?”
Since it took all my willpower to stay awake, I didn’t reply. Meanwhile, the mare poured a soothing tincture over my wounds.
“Not sure. He did a decent job protecting Lord Halterdawn, though, even if the Forsaken eventually wore him out.” She paused for a moment to inspect my wound and make sure the bleeding had properly stopped. “According to Gate, the Lord was brought here along with somepony. I think it’s safe to assume he’s a retainer.”
I checked the cot next to me, where Halterdawn was crawling out of his hiding spot, much slower than he needed to.
Given how calm their discussion was, I found it harder and harder to keep my eyes open. The batpony stallion grumbled, “So he shall have to come along with the noble. How irritating.”
“You should see the upside, Captain sir, Aurora will be more than happy to have somepony like him. After all—”
That was the point where I finally passed out.