Chapter 3
Two Encounters
Eyes stared at the traveling alicorn. The eyes belonged to a Blood-wolf, a fearsome creature by the name of Feega. Feega had gone hungry for days, and now that he had found prey he was already planning on how he would eat it. He hid among the rocks in on a cliff overlooking the path that the large alicorn was traveling, and in moments he would be ready to attack.
Sothe was bored. He had been walking for hours and had not seen a single sign of life. He supposed he should be considering himself lucky to have not run into trouble but it put him on edge. This had been too easy so far. Sothe sighed and floated an apple out of his bad. While he chewed he began to think about how he would approach Scar, and how he would go about enlisting his help.
Feega watched as the distracted pony wander closer and closer to the cliff. He smiled inwardly as the final steps were made. Feega tightened his hind legs and launched himself off of the rocks. He was fifty feet from his target, then twenty, then five, and then he made contact. Sothe let out a surprised yelp as the wolf’s claws sank into his back, and he instinctively collapsed and rolled to escape the dead weight of the assailant that was seconds away. Feega felt the creature slip out from under him and shifted his weight to land on all fours. He hit the ground and spun to face the alicorn. Sothe was ready for the second assult, the magic that now surrounded his horn slid a dagger from its sheath in his bag. The wolf leapt and Sothe swung, his blade finding purchase in the wolf’s foreleg. Feeling a sharp pain bit into his leg Feega landed behins the alicorn and spun to face him yet again. Feega tensed his hind legs and prepared to jump again but didn’t get the chance. As the two prepared to clash once more a streak of fire rocked towards the ground and hit the wolf. Feega screeched in pain as claws raked his face and remained there, whimpering on the ground even after they pulled away. He was blinded and knew struggling would bring more pain then it was worth.
Sothe stared on at the scene in surprise. Of everything that could have happened, Philomena saving him was the last he had expected,
“Good morning, Philomena. How did you find me?” he asked the firebird that had landed on a nearby rock. She cooed a greeting but offered no answer. Luckily for Sothe, another voice did.
“We followed you and she followed us,” the voice of Sothe’s mate said. Sothe turned to see Celestia and Luna now standing next to him, Celestia smiled warmly and Luna looked a bit sheepish.
“Why did you follow me?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“Because you planned on coming out here alone, without even an illusionist to protect you.” Celestia replied. She walked up and nuzzled her mate, “Luna told me about what happened yesterday and after you left she cloaked us and we followed.” Luna looked over at the blinded wolf,
“And by the looks of it, you’re lucky we did.” Sothe stared at both of them, a thousand reasons why they shouldn’t have come flying through his head. He wanted to tell them to turn back, that it was too dangerous, that he could take care of himself, that this was work for a soldier. After a time he just said, “Well… let’s get moving then” the group began to walk, leaving the blinded wolf to wallow in his misery.
“So Griffins actually live out here?” Luna asked, looking incredulously around at the barren desert.
“Well it is technically their territory, but they tend to stick to the mountains further west,” Sothe replied. Celestia had been listening to question after question leave her sister’s mouth for about an hour now, and in all that time had been formulating a question of her own.
“What does Greathoof have against the Griffins?” Celestia asked. The other two turned, as if they had forgotten she was there. Sothe thought for a moment and sighed.
“He… he blames the Griffins for many things. His parents died in the last border war when he was young, and he’s been nursing his grudge for years now.” Sothe’s voice trailed off.
“So he wants revenge,” Luna asked.
“No, he used to want revenge but now… he just wants blood now. Whose blood doesn’t matter, he just wants war.” The other two alicorns didn’t understand what Sothe ment by this, “When you know nothing but violence, you grow detached. Greathoof is full of so much hate that he is incapable of understanding peace anymore, he only knows war. His grief and anger slowly consumed him until he became the thing he is today.” Sothe finished explaining and looked over the rise of the hill they had come to. He could see mountains in the distance, old craggy mountains as old as the land itself.
“That’s where we’re headed,” he said “The Diamond Mountains.” Luna looked on in awe and Celestia rested her head on Sothe’s shoulder.
“Do you want to keep walking?” She asked her mate.
“No, let’s make camp.” The three went about collecting and piling whatever wood they could scrounge from the barren land, and after they had an acceptable pile went about trying to convince Pinlomena to light it. After much coaxing and promises of mice the firebird finally obliged and they all lay around the fire, basking in its warmth.
The griffins have two types of names in their culture. The first type is one that they are born with, a common name. These names are usually a single word that says something about them, such as where they’re from or a feature of them. The latter type is one christened later in life. These names are used as a mark of status, they describe an exploit or a defining feature that they weren’t born with, much like a alicorn’s cutie mark. The birth names are referred to as Home-Names, while the others are Warrior-Name.
Cliff still had his birth name. He had never seen battle, nor had he ever seen far off lands. He rarely got invited to go hunting, and he was a mess in the forge. The only thing Cliff had ever done right was patrol, and so the only thing Cliff ever got to do was patrol. He had enlisted with hopes of being a great warrior, but had only ever been described as a hotshot. In basic training he had attempted a dive bomb but only managed to pass out in midair due to the g-force. He had bragged about his skills in a fight, but only ever managed to be succeed as a punching bag. He couldn’t ever back up his claims in any physical practice, but he was organized. His border reports were always filled out and submitted on time, he always followed protocol, and he never missed his shift. This is why he was fit to be a guardsman.
He sailed high above the ground, staring absentmindedly at the wastes below him.
He sighed, “Nothing… the wastes are so boring.” After a time he alighted on a cliff and just watched the sunset. He did this often, stopping his patrol partway through to watch the ball of light fade over the horizon. He wondered how it did this, what could move something so big. He enjoyed watching the fireball fade and give way to the night. These times when he was alone were the only ones he ever enjoyed. There he stayed until darkness fell completely and he could no longer see. Or he should have been unable to see, if it hadn’t been for a light on a hill in the distance.
“Well what do you know,” he said incredulously, “There’s actually someone out there.” He spread his wings and took off in the direction of the light.
Sothe told the others stories, stories of the border wars, stories of the council members, and stories of dragons. The stories about dragons were the ones Luna enjoyed the most. She had always been interested in dragons, they sounded like magnificent creatures. Sothe told a story about how Dragons had been the first creatures to live in this land, about how they warred for a time until a great peace settled, how they would return to war at the end of times. Luna loved every minute of it, Celestia on the other hand preferred sleep to stories and quickly dozed off. Sothe and Luna talked late into the night until the sound of wingbeats alerted them of a new arrival to their campfire.
Cliff wondered how he would approach them, he thought about dive-bombing them but decided against that since he wasn’t very good at attacking. His next idea was to hide in the dark and whisper to scare them, but he wasn’t very good at hiding either. While he thought about these things he overheard the stories that Sothe was telling the others. These were different storied from the ones he had been told as a chick. The alicorn was a good story teller too, Cliff was entranced. He listened to a story about a dragon and demon, and when the story reached its climax he let out a soft “Wow.” Sothe heard this and quickly stood.
“Show yourself!” He called into the darkness. Cliff felt embarrassed, he knew that had been a childish mistake.
“Show yourself.” Sothe repeated with more force. Cliff stepped into the light of the campfire and watched as Luna reeled back in fear. She had never seen a griffin before.
“Who are you?” Sothe asked in a calm voice.
“I’m a guard,” Cliff responded simply, “And you are an alicorn, and therefore a trespasser.”
“We are here on a mission of peace from Chancellor River. We have a message for Scar.” Cliff thought about this for a moment, he knew the border treaty allowed for diplomats and messengers to cross, but he had never encountered one himself.
“How do I know you’re here in peace?” He asked, trying to match the alicorn’s cool tone.
“Because we haven’t violated the treaty in any way, we walked here, made our camp obvious, and did not attack you on sight.” Sothe responded. Cliff thought about this for a moment, he would have liked for them to be trespassers, he could have arrested them and been awarded for capturing treaty-breakers, but on the other hand if they had been sent by Chancellor River herself then the message might be important.
“If you understand the border treaty then you must know that I am, as a guard, required to offer you an escort to your destination.” The griffin said somewhat forcefully, “an offer that you are required to accept.”
“Of course,” Sothe nodded, “Although we will not be continuing until tomorrow, would you like to join us?” He motioned with a hoof to an empty spot near the fire, hoping to sound welcoming. Cliff considered the offer for a moment and then nodded, it was much more comfortable by the fire than anywhere else in the wastes. All three of them watched each other for a while until Luna chose to break the suspicious silence.
“What’s your name?” she asked the large bird-lion.
“Cliff,” He responded slowly, “And yours?”
“Luna.”
“What kind of name is Luna.” Cliff asked incredulously, he had thought the few alicorn names he had heard before were strange, but this one took the cake.
“I could ask you the same thing.” Luna said defensively.
“I was born on a cliff… and my parents weren’t exactly creative…” His voice trailed off a little and an awkward silence followed.
“My name is Sothe,” Sothe said to break the silence, “High Commander of the Fourth Aerial Strike force, and this is my mate,” He motioned to the sleeping white pony next to him. “Celestia.” Cliff nodded and chose not to comment on how strange those names were too. The three talked for a while, all the time Luna and Cliff butted heads over every little thing. The way Sothe saw it, if they kept this up they would be best friends by morning.
Luna was confused, this griffin was nothing like the feathered monsters she had been told about as a filly. I stories griffin were always described as bloodthirsty and cruel. She didn’t sense any evil in him at all. She actually enjoyed his company, he may have been full of himself and overconfident, but he was also fun to argue with and at times quite funny.
“Can you really do magic?” Cliff asked suddenly. This shocked Luna,
“Of course,” She said “Can’t everyone?” Cliff shook his head,
“Could you show me?” he asked slowly.
“Well….” Luna said as her horn started to glow, “I guess I could.” While Luna talked she silently lifted Cliff off of the ground, he yelped in surprise,
“AHHH!” he exclaimed, “How’re you doing that!?!?” Luna held him there giggling while he struggled against the invisible force containing him. After a time Cliff began to laugh too. When Luna finally freed him he sat down, the past hour had been full of more stories and talk. He was actually finding himself enjoying the company. It was a real nice change to be in the company of people who weren’t going to pre-judge him. Every griffin in the area knew of how much of a klutz he was, but these ponies had never even know of his existence until an hour earlier. Before he had been dreading the prospect of showing up with three alicorns and a phoenix, but as he began to fall asleep he decided that maybe this trip wouldn’t be so bad.