In the predawn, about the time that Emerald Alembic was beginning to offer his prayers of safety, a pair of hooded stallions crept through the darkness toward the palace. Their figures were invisible against the blackness of the night, but they moved swiftly and with purpose as they approached the exposed wall of the dungeon.
“Which holds are they in?” whispered the one.
“I’ll tell you when I know,” answered the other.
The first tended to a discomfort in his hind leg, and looked about nervously.
“Damn it, Spade,” said the second, “is your leg better or isn’t it?”
“I ain’t got no sway o’er the matter,” Spade returned, defensively.
“I’m doing this for you to ensure the safety of my investment,” the second hissed. “You had better not muss it up like the Elements job, you old gimp.”
Spade scoffed.
“This is mine as much as yers. We agreed, it’s my hooves as’ll put an end to Emerald Alembic. You ain’t gonna touch him.”
“You can rest assured of my end. But if you let slip yours, losing your revenge should be the least of your worries. Now shut up so I can think.”
The second stallion laid his ear against the wall and closed his eyes. He was silent for a moment and pulled his head away.
“There are only four in the dungeon. Two of them aren’t prisoners. One of them feels like Alembic, but if it is, there’s something different about him. Your boys are in separate cells, one at forty paces east, one at fifteen south. We’ll have to bust them separately. Which means,” he added sternly, “we have to be quiet. I’ll pull them out on my own.”
“Well,” Spade coughed, “you gonna bust ‘em, or you gonna talk about it?”
The stallion rolled his eyes. He pulled down his hood and bared his silver-blue horn.
“These cells are held by a containment spell that alters its signature. While we’ve been here it has changed twice: time between, six minutes and fourteen seconds. I can see why you couldn’t do this yourself.”
“Criminy,” said Spade, “can ya do it or not?”
“I can break it in four,” he replied, “give or take a moment.”
“Then git it done.”
The stallion applied himself to the work with the deepest concentration. As the minutes passed, a sweat erupted from his brow. All the while Stowaway Spade kept watch, ducking himself away whenever a sentinel came near that side of the castle.
“Got it,” said Spade’s companion when the containment spell was breached. “I won’t be a moment.”
With that his image faded in the wind, a Cheshire cat grin hanging in the air and vanishing last. The cloaked unicorn was gone from Spade’s sight.
Storm Cloud lay sleeping when the stallion materialized inside his cell. Without waking him the intruder teleported Storm Cloud beyond the walls of the dungeon, and moved on to Galeheart.
In Galeheart’s cell he took a moment to watch the injured stallion’s labored breathing. He quickly cast a spell to heal the greater part of Galeheart’s wounds, then shook the ex-lieutenant awake. He put a hoof to his mouth to demand silence.
“Who are you?” said Galeheart in a daze.
“Just call me Birdy,” he replied in a flawless imitation of Spade’s voice that sent the weary lieutenant reeling backward with shock. The bed shifted beneath him, and the bedposts screeched on the cold stone.
“Damn it, boy,” he hissed at Galeheart. “Now you’ve gone and got us in a hurry. Hold on—you may feel a little fuzzy after this.”
He teleported Galeheart outside of the castle where Storm Cloud and Spade were waiting, and vanished from the dungeon in the moment before Emerald Alembic laid eyes upon an empty cell.
“D’ya think that’s funny, White Bird?” Spade barked at him when he reappeared in the palace yard. “Storm Cloud damn near broke my neck when he landed on me.”
“I don’t think anything is particularly funny,” White Bird replied with a cold stare. “Especially not being shouted at by someone who is in my debt.”
Stowaway Spade stared at the grass and stayed silent. Galeheart, woozy from the loss of blood, fell on his side when he tried to stand.
“Well, good,” said Spade’s companion. “Now we’re out safe I can fix this boy up proper.”
He spent a few moments crouched in the darkness, unwrapping Galeheart’s bandages and treating all his wounds. In the space of a second the remaining cracked bones were set and healed, and the skin had closed around them in invisible scars.
“What happened to y’all to get ya captured?” Spade asked the lieutenant.
“It was that sergeant,” he wheezed. “Sergeant Mercury. I thought I got him, but he came out of nowhere, and…”
“And what ‘bout you?” Spade said, turning to Storm Cloud. “You ain’t hurt. I reckon you surrendered the minute Galeheart here got bushwhacked.”
“He’s a snitch,” White Bird interjected. “You can always tell a snitch by the way they carry themselves. You should choose your hoodlums more carefully, Spade.”
Spade exploded in anger. He knocked Storm Cloud to the ground and held a hoof against his throat.
“What’d ya tell ‘em, you schemin’ rat?” he yelled. “Spill it!”
“Now, Stowaway,” said White Bird calmly, “there’s no need for that. You know right well he told them everything.”
This did not help to quell Spade’s temper. White Bird laid a hoof on his shoulder, and in an instant Spade released Storm Cloud and stepped back with a tranquil expression in his eyes. White Bird began casting a spell on Storm Cloud, and spoke softly.
“It doesn’t matter what you told them,” he said. “What matters is what they told you. You are going to tell us every little detail you may have overheard, is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Storm Cloud whispered passively. His eyes were glazed over by White Bird’s enchantment.
“Good. Start with whatever is of the most immediate consequence. Are they making any plans against us?”
“The Princess is in the Shadow World,” said Storm Cloud without a second’s delay.
“What!” Spade roared.
“With what purpose?” said White Bird.
“The Princess seeks the members of the five-hundred-first. She plans to retrieve the guards we sent there, and she is hopeful of finding the Elements of Harmony.”
White Bird whipped his head around to look at Spade.
“You hid the Elements in the Umbra?” he growled, truly angry for the first time since Spade had known him.
“Galeheart, get ‘em back!” Spade said, his face flushed with fury and embarrassment. “Summon the Elements!”
Galeheart tried in vain to summon the Elements of Harmony from the Shadow World. When he realized it was no use, he stared helplessly at Spade.
“Damn two-bit, good-for-nuthin’—!” he yelled, raising a hoof against the cowering lieutenant. White Bird caught his leg to stop him.
“The Umbra is sealed,” he said. “It’s a palace security measure. Nothing can be summoned out of it now. Hell, I ought to hit you for hiding the Elements someplace you didn’t understand.”
“It was Galeheart what done it!” Spade said, trying to excuse himself.
“The onus of guilt always falls on the commander. You ought to know better. Now get yourselves in the Shadow World, both of you, and when you’ve got the Elements, bring them back to Sparkling Crag. That was the hiding place we agreed on, in case you don’t recall.”
“What about Storm Cloud?” Galeheart asked.
“I’ll see to him,” said White Bird, “like I see to every snitch that jeopardizes my plans. Now stop wasting time!”
In a flash Galeheart’s magic carried him and Stowaway Spade into the Umbra, where, as the Princess described to Sergeant Mercury and Emerald Alembic, they narrowly managed to secure the Elements, and escaped capture. Spade and Galeheart met up with White Bird, who was appeased to find the Elements of Harmony in Spade’s saddle bag.
“Where’s the Sergeant Major?” said Galeheart.
“I saw to him,” White Bird replied flatly. “Now head for Sparkling Crag, and don’t screw anything else up. The Elements are yours until the Double Harvest, Spade. But remember that when you’re through with them, you hand them over to me.”
Spade nodded.
“You’re on your own now. I’ll find you on the full moon to help you with your ritual. And Spade,” he added in an admonishing tone, “have your boy here teach you how to enter the Umbra. If anything goes wrong when you’re facing Emerald, he shouldn’t be able to follow you there. If he does, you’d do well not to attack him. You’ve been warned.”
With that, White Bird’s figure was dispersed on the wind’s breath, and Spade and Galeheart made their way east toward Glimmerwood and Sparkling Crag.