Chapter 4
Written by spectacles_ak
Proofreading and editing by flyingfox
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“You are certain of this?” Legerdemane looked over his spectacles at Daring who returned the glare with much the same barely restrained anger as she had for the rest of their trek through the jungle.
“I’m as certain as I can be. The direction inscribed on the ruins are old, very old and in a language that is similar to Pre-Equestrian Unicorn but not quite, like it got mixed with a different language all together. There is a fair amount of metaphor involved and due to the linguistic differences, I can’t be sure if there are some colloquialisms that I’m missing all together. But for all intents and purposes, yes I’m certain.” She replied pointing to questionable areas on a scroll that the stallion magically held before her.
“Hmm. I’m beginning to see why so many underestimate you, Miss Do. Not only a mare of action but you also possess quite a brilliant mind.” He smiled at her.
“Hey! I didn’t get my doctorate and made a professor at Lost Pegasus on my good looks you know.” She said defensively.
“Many of my compatriots assume that is the case as you are quite fetching, for a pegasus. The perhaps the Board of Directors at the university is a fan of your fine novels. And last I heard it was former professor. I wonder why that could be, hmm?” His smile remained the same, but for some reason it held an undercurrent of snide mockery that caused her rage to seethe worse that it was already.
“I don’t want to talk about that. Never bring that up again!” She nearly shouted.
“Patience Miss Do. I suggest you calm yourself before one of my guards decides to take it upon themselves to think you were threatening me.” He warned with the same taunting tone. His smile slipped for moment as he continued. “Though I do apologize.”
“Why?” She cocked an eyebrow at this.
“You may be my prisoner, and I may find your kind both brutish, and if one will excuse the pun, flighty, I like to think of myself as somewhat gentle and as such about such petty insults. And so I beg your forgiveness in this matter.” He bowed his head slightly. Daring stared at him for a moment. He couldn’t be serious. Could he?
"Fine. Whatever.” She flicked her tail in annoyance. He was an odd one. But she had met, and dealt with odder in the past.
“Now that that is attended to..Captain!” He shouted to the strangely accented unicorn that had been walking with them earlier. “Get everyone ready to move. We should be at our destination soon enough.” He looked again at Daring over his tinted lenses. “As long as our guide is not mistaken.”
“Arr sir. D'ya want me ter send the scouts up ahead?” The stallion asked as he started putting away his own canteen.
“Yes. Have them report as soon as they see anything out of the ordinary.” Legerdemane’s demeanor immediately changed to one of authority and command, rather than the gentle and perhaps sly one he projected when alone with Daring.
As Legerdemane began giving orders to several of the other unicorns that made up his personal retinue, Daring stole a look back at her sister and her companion. They were sitting drinking from some canteens. Good. At least they had some semblance of decency. She then noticed that Ditzy was look right at her. Or at least as ‘right at her’ as she could get. She felt a bit of a pang at that thought.
Then she had an idea. If her gut feeling was right about what they were walking into, she might be able to turn this whole situation around and get her and her sister out of this. And her sister’s so called friend too, she said grudgingly to herself. She began twitching her tail in a pattern. She hoped Ditzy remembered this one.
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“This is hardly ideal, Miss Do.”
“I don’t know why you’re blaming me. I told you what I knew and there you have it.”
“That may be, but three standing stones around a raised stone circle is hardly a temple.” Legerdemane said calmly as a subtle twitch of the eye belied his frustrations.
“You really are new to this whole adventuring business. If this Temple of Krustallos is protecting some sort of treasure, then you don’t want easy access. And if you have easy access, then you fill it with traps and/or monsters. Almost all of these old ruins have them, the only real variations depends on when they were built. It’s almost like ancient ponies were paranoid or something. I think -”
“Would you please be silent for a moment. You are so much more stoic in your novels. I should have known better, I suppose.” He looked overhead. The sun was going down and relying on the night sister’s light for such work was never a good idea, especially in strange locals such as this. “Captain, get some campfires lit and set up a patrol.” The Captain saluted and began barking his orders. A group of five stayed behind with Legerdemane.
Daring looked at these five unicorns. They were dressed like the others, in full black suits, goggles, and face masks, but their saddlebags that contained who-knows-what kind of equipment had the simple white circle with a unicorn head silhouette in black, one that Legerdemane himself shared, though his was a little more ornate, the black circle being ringed in old unicorn runes. Those must be the actual members of the Knights of the Black Horn, and the rest of the guards were some sort of mercenaries, though outside of the Royal Guards, any sort of professional military was a foreign concept to the Equestrian pegasus. Given her run-ins in the past with these sorts, they were probably the most powerful magically. And therefore the most dangerous.
She looked back over her shoulder to see Ditzy and that Doctor fellow she was tagging around with. Despite the situation they seemed to be getting along alright. She sighed internally. It had been so long since they had seen each other. Daring couldn’t help but feel guilt over what had happened, why she had tried to force her sister to stay safe in Ponyville. But her sister forgave her, or at least seemed to. She was always the nicer one. A lot more trusting. That is why this Doctor fellow made her so suspicious. Where did he come from? What was that strange blue box they had with them? What was he a doctor of any way?
Her train of thought derailed as soon as she saw Legerdemane turn her way, his shadowed eyes staring at her.
“Well Miss Do. I suppose you are right. It is an entrance of some sort. I am embarrassed to say that my fellow Knights and I are unable to solve it. It is time that you put some of your expertise to use, yes?” Inside Daring’s head, inspiration struck.
“Fine. But I’m going to need my assistants free for this one. I may be good, but even the best needs some help now and again. If it was that easy, you probably wouldn’t need me, am I right?” She lifted an eyebrow and smiled, an edge of cockiness in her voice.
Legerdemane’s shaded spectacles slid down his nose just far enough to glare at her over top the tinted lenses. He met her gaze for a few silent moments.'
“Fine. But if you try anything Daring Do to escape or hinder this operation, I will not hesitate to put you and your friends down. You have until sunrise to get me inside that temple.” He turned to one of the Knights who in turn went and spoke with the guards holding the other two ponies prisoner
Daring Do gulped nervously. She hoped she hadn’t just signed all of their death warrants.