//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: A Raider's Adventure // by Aruzo Night //------------------------------// "Hey, come on get up it's morning already. We got chores to do." Sapphire violently shook my body hoping that I'd awaken from my deep slumber, but no dice I wished to remain asleep. "Five more minutes." I mumbled and shifted to my side placing the scarf over my eyes to block the sun's rays. Sapphire yanked the scarf away, but that did her no good when I covered my eyes with the gauntlet. Sapphire paused to think for a moment. When she came up with a plan, a devious smirked appeared on her face. She lifted the arm that wore the gauntlet and centered her aim on my face, after reaching my full arm span she let go off the gauntlet and let gravity do its work... *SMACK*. "AAHHH!!" I woke up in a flash rubbing my cheek which had an awful red imprint of the gauntlet. Sapphire chuckled at me as I rolled on the floor trying to sooth the pain away, "Come on get up, Mother is waiting for you downstairs. I'll meet up with you there... And you may want take a shower, you smell like sweat. I opened your bedroom window so you can sneak in." She said before I could recover from her surprise attack, I sat up straight and took a small whiff from my pits damn, I do need a shower. I walked to the edge of the building where my bedroom window was open thanks to Sapphire, and climbed down. Once inside I took a quick rinse in the shower, replaced my raider equipment for my apron, and headed down stairs, where Mother was waiting for me with a scroll. "Morning Mother, are those my chores for today?" I asked, praying that she'd say no. "No," Thank you. She handed me a much larger paper and I could see that it was a grocery list with several items listed down. I was puzzled for Mother never trusted me with the shopping, because I would always steal or forget everything, whichever came first. "Since you brought that money to buy 'more food', then you're going to buy more food." Sapphire came down the flight of stairs with a smile, holding a couple of saddle bags, "Morning Mother." She said blissfully. I'll never figure out how she does it to be so happy early in the morning. "Morning Raider." I greeted her with a, "Good morning" and a brotherly hug, but Mother kept looking at Sapphire with a concerned look on her face. "Sapphire, you'll stay here and help me watch the children, while Raider goes and gets the groceries." "What," Sapphire shouted in shock, "But Mother, Raider has never gone to get the groceries because he always steals them or forgets them altogether. Let me go with him so I can keep an eye on him, please." "No means no. Now be a dear and go wake up the children." Sapphire went upstairs, pissed, and I headed for the front door. "Raider," Mother called out before I opened the door, "Remember your promise." I crossed my heart and smiled, as I exited for the local bazaar. ________________________________________ Even though it was bright and early in the morning the bazaar was already crowded with ponies and merchants alike. The bazaar was filled with ponies bumping into each other, merchants screaming out to the crowd telling them about how fresh his merchandise is, street performers performing death defying acts to make a living, scamps alluring suckers with talk of their miracle potions and lucky talismans, and guards on high alert looking for yesterday's thief. I squeezed my way to the center of the bazaar and glimpsed at the first item of the list, "Lettuce." I looked around until I spotted a stand selling all sorts of vegetables and a crowd formed in front of it, "Okay, let me just... oh wait that's right no stealing. No matter, this will be easy. I'll probably finish this list in no time," I said confidently as I gazed at the violent crowd, "Yep, no time." A raider has only one rule, always tell the truth, and truth be told THAT WAS HARD. I was pick-pocketed by some thief, got punched in the face for grinding on some father's daughter, stopped by a guard because he thought that I was stealing to soon, and worst of all harassed by a harlot. Actually I think that was the only good thing that came out of it. I returned to the center of the bazaar horny, bloody, and bruised holding a single lettuce leaf in my hoof, "Lettuce, check. What’s next item on the list... tomatoes." I turned my head sharply and gazed at the stand I was just at and there sitting next to the lettuce were the tomatoes. I was going to burst with rage and steal those god damn tomatoes, when a set of hooves wrapped around my head and blinded me. "What the- who is this?" I asked while trying to remove the hooves from my face. "Nah ah, guess who." My heart filled with glee and my mind with perverted thoughts. "Is it the harlot!" "WHAT!!" wrong answer? Whoever it was removed their hooves from my eyes and turned me around, there stood Sapphire with wrath burning in her pupils. "SAPPHIRE?! HEY! How is it... uhmm. What are you..." "Uh huh." "...Don't tell Mother." she paused and placed a hoof on her chin to think. "Fine. I won't tell Mother. If you promise not to tell her I was here with you." She blackmailed, not seeing any down side to this deal I accepted. "What are you doing here anyways?" I asked. "I figured that you might need some help so came by to help out," she explained as she grabbed the list out my hoof, "Want me to help you?" "Please." I begged. What would have taken me an eternity to do, only took Sapphire half an hour to complete. Once finished with the grocery shopping and having some time to spare, we sat on a bench to take a much deserved rest before we returned back home. We sat in silence for a while, watching ponies walk around, until Sapphire spoke. "Uhm... Raider I was meaning to ask you something," she timidly said. "Yeah, what's in your mind." "It’s about yesterday night. Did you hear what I said last night when we were talking?" My blood froze for I had completely forgotten what she said last night. "Oh, of course I did. I heard every last word you said last night." I bluffed, she started to blush when she heard me. "So you understand, I hope that you don't find it weird." "I do understand and no. It’s not weird at all. I know you’re just trying to be like me that's all." Sapphire stared at me with a puzzled look. "What? That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking after that." She said, I gulped in shame and decided to confess. "Okay the truth is I fell asleep after that part. I'm sorry about that, but I'm here right now so you can tell me what's in your mind." she took a deep breath and looked at me. "What I'm trying to tell you is that-" the rest of her words were drowned out by another voice, "Miss Daring I just know-". I turned around to see who said that name and saw a pony with a white beard and mane, walking next to an orange pegasus. "Raider?" "Yeah?" "Did you even hear what I said?" Sapphire asked. "I need to check this out, follow me. We'll talk back at the house, I promise." We placed the bags on our backs and began to follow the pegasus and her companion. We kept close behind the couple trying to overhear their conversation. "Miss Daring, I'm glad you came to help my expedition. With you here there is no doubt will be able to get into those temples once I decipher their locations." The bearded pony proclaimed. "Jeez, thanks Doc, but I'm just glad I can help an old friend," Daring remarked, "So where is your expedition camp at, Doc?" "The Scorpio Seas. We will leave this afternoon and arrive by nightfall." After following them to a nearby inn, we decided to return home before Mother began to get worried for us. ________________________________________ When we arrived to the orphanage, we saw that Mother was talking with the landlord at the front door, tapping his hoof impatiently, ranting aggressively, and with a bottle in one of his hoofs. "You have until the end of this week to pay." He shouted. "But where can I get that much money. Please don't close my business. Think about the children, where are they going to sleep, what are they going to eat or wear, or who's going to care for them." Mother cried, hoping that the landlord will see reason through his drunken state of mind. "I don't wanna hear it! I don't care about the children! Either you pay up or I'll kick you out the building myself!" He threatened. Mother threw herself to the ground and grabbed him by the hoof, "Please! I beg of you don't close the orphanage. Please!" "Agghh! Get off me you stupid old hag!" He raised the bottle to the air and swung for Mother's face. "MOTHER!!" Sapphire screamed in horror. "*SNAP* WHAT THE-" The landlord looked to the side only to see an enraged Raider grabbing his hoof, halfway through his strike, "Let go of me!" I only tightened my grip crushing his wrist and forcing him to drop his bottle and bend his foreleg back. "Don't you ever DARE touch my mother again." I grabbed him by the chest with my other hoof, spun to get some momentum, and tossed his drunken ass to the middle of the dirt street, where he landed with a heavy thud. "You'll pay dearly for this, kid!" He stumbled left and right as he got up. Pushing Sapphire aside the drunken idiot left to the market to cause more trouble. Sapphire ran to help me pick up Mother from the ground and brought her inside where the children were crying after bearing witness to everything. After several hours of concerned neighbors coming over to see if Mother was okay and calming down the orphans, the morning gave way to the afternoon. Soon after the visitors left and the last child was upstairs Sapphire and I sat down with Mother, who was still very depressed. "Mother, is something wrong?" Sapphire asked as she tried to comfort her, Mother simply nodded. "Is it about the landlord?" Once again Mother just nodded, refusing to speak. "Mother, we've been told before that he is the owner of the building so you have to pay him whether we like it or not." I reminded her. Sapphire nudged me in the shoulder signaling me to take it easy on her. Mother sighed and gestured for us to sit down, "Children, the landlord came to tell me that the city is going to buy this building and unless we can pay full price for it, we are going to lose everything." she sighed. "That's no problem. Just pay him with the money that's under the alter. How much does he want? Two thousand, three thousand?" I suggested. "One hundred thousand by the end of the week." I felt my heart sink deep within me when I heard the outrageous amount and little time given to accumulate it, but that didn't slow Sapphire. "No problem, Raider can easily steal that amount... or more by tomorrow morning. Right, Raider?" I kept silent and dwelled on my thoughts of the expedition and how there might be some gold or jewels there. "No. No more stealing from the city, I'm afraid you might get caught." Mother pleaded as she grabbed my hoof. "But, Mother..." "No, Sapphire. We will think of other ways of getting the money, but no stealing. Now it's noon and there is no lunch for the children to eat. Raider give me the groceries and help me cook an-" "Sorry, Mother but I'm not feeling well. You don't mind if Sapphire helps you," I interrupted, "I just don't feel good." "Okay, in that case Sapphire help me cook and will call the children in little while." I headed for my room upstairs, but as I made my way up I saw an orphans sitting at the top, listening to the whole conversation. " Nibs, what are you doing here. go to your room." I said as pushed him to the side so Mother wouldn't see him. Nibs is the youngest member of the family and thinks of me more as father than a brother. "Raider, are we really going to lose everything?". As much as I thought of it I couldn't give him a answer, which only made his eyes tear up. "Hey, now," I acted fast giving him a hug and a fake smile, "Don't cry, look Mother said we'll get the money some other way." "But, how?" "Look, I'll take care of it. Don't worry." I assured him, I could see a smile roll across his face. "Really!" "Yep." "You promise." We crossed our hearts and touched hoofs to show him that I was committed, he started to jump around in circles and walked up to me to give me a big hug. "Your the best, Raider." I felt a tear roll down my cheek and hugged him back. "Go to your room and get clean supper is almost done." I said, he trotted off to his room excitedly. As made way to my room, I kept thinking of the expedition, my promise with Nibs, and on how we were going to be able to pay the landlord. By the time I reached my room, sat down on my bed, and stared at my raider equipment for a while my mind was set. I Must! I began pulling out several maps of all sorts I had piled on a flimsy bookshelf of treasure maps, dungeon maps, temple maps, and a city map. After constant digging through piles of scrolls, I finally came upon the map I was looking for, "Ahh, here we go, The Sea of Sand Map." I unfolded the enormous map and placed it down on my bed, which took up most of it. I scanned the map several times to see if I could find The Scorpio Seas, until I heard somepony enter my room. "Supper is ready." Sapphire said as she entered my room. She looked at the mess of map and saw a pack with my raider equipment poorly stuffed in it. "So you’re going to raid the expedition?" "Do I have a choice? If I don't we will lose everything we worked so hard on building." I said as I searched for the location on the map. Sapphire walked over to my side and started to pack my equipment properly, "What if you get caught?" "That won't happen. I cannot afford to get caught, plus... remember who you’re talking too." I joked to lighten up the mood. She smiled and hoofed me the pack and pointed to "The Scorpio Seas" on the map, I marked the location down and opened the window to head on my way. "Raider, can I ask you something before you leave?" She asked timidly. "Yeah, what is it." "What do you consider me as? How do I fit in your life?" I paused and thought of my answer carefully, "I consider you the pony I keep in both mind and heart always." "Really!?" Her eyes widened when she heard that. "Of course. You’re my dear sister." I remarked with a smile "Oh," I saw her face turn glum and could tell that wasn't the answer she hoping for, "I'll tell Mother that you’re asleep. That should buy you some time." "Thanks." I began to climb down from the window and once on the floor I trotted towards the inn. I had a strange urge to look back and saw Sapphire looking out the window, saying something to herself I think. When she finished, she waved goodbye to me and closed the window. I headed for the inn where Daring and the Doc were embarking from, praying that they haven't left yet. ________________________________________ It seems odd, but as I made my way to the inn I had a feeling as though I was being watched from every nook and cranny of the city. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me because I thought I saw one of those ponies with the uniform from last night on one of the roofs, he spotted me first and hid before I could tell. I decided to ignore it, but still I could feel being stared at by somepony. I began to walk under some shop tarps and through heavy crowds to make my way to the inn, hoping that he'd lose sight of me, and it worked. I could see at the corner of my eye that he, whoever he was, kept a close eye on crowds and shops looking for anypony that looked similar to me or acted suspicious in anyway. After dodging several guard squads and several more watch ponies I made my way to the inn. Much to my surprise a fully loaded supply cart was parked just outside the inn's entrance. I gazed around to see if anypony was looking and climbed aboard, covering myself with the tarp. As I patiently waited for the cart to depart, I started to equip my gear and took a second glance at the map and measured the distance between "The Scorpio Seas" and the city. "Hmm... If it takes from afternoon to nightfall on cart," I thought to myself, "Then it will probably take me till morning to arrive at the city on hoof if I sprint. It also depends on how much I'm carrying with me." I suddenly felt the cart jerk back and forth and bounce up and down, which made me hit my head on it several times. After everything was done I peeked from under the tarp to see what was happening and saw two big ponies wearing harnesses tugging the supply cart. It’s just the cart pullers. Great, we are on our way then I thought to myself. I heard the voice of Daring circle the cart, speaking of a certain familiar event. "Why did that guard ask you if the blimp from last night was yours?" Daring asked as she boarded the cart. "Like I told the guard, that wasn't one of our blimps. Strange, though he said that they were unloading camp equipment. We didn't receive word of an early delivery of supplies." The Doc explained as he struggled to board to the cart, "But he said that they were shipping it to camp at the desert. Do you think that there may be somepony else exploring the desert?" "I can take a guess that I know this 'somepony'," Daring suggested. "Who." "Alhuizolt." "Bah. Don't worry about that, we have guards at the camp site. Plus, we haven't seen any of Alhuizolt’s henchmen around the city" the Doc said confidently. Cause you ain't looking hard enough I thought. The cart began to move towards the city gates, to exit into the desert. I was starting to believe that Alhuizolt and Daring had met before and not in a good way, the blimp from last night and all the lookout ponies were no mere coincidence. ________________________________________ After several hours of traveling over sand dunes and through small sand storms, nightfall soon shrouded the desert landscape and sky with beautiful stars. Through the long trip, the Doc shared stories of his most recent expedition and discoveries. This would have been useful to hear, but since the Doc started with the anatomy of pegasai I decided to sleep it through it. I mean who wants to listen to an old pony talk about the anatomy of winged ponies, he only got my attention once when he said that pegasus mares can climax if you stroke their wings... 'gently'. Either way by the time I fell back asleep and woke up the expedition site was near and the Doc had ran out of stories to tell. When the cart came to a full stop I peeked to see the size of the camp site and where they were they keeping the treasure, but all I saw were guards, guards everywhere. They kept vigilant for any sign of trouble, Alhuizolt, or for idiot tomb raiders. Like this idiot, I was starting to consider if this was good idea at all. Still I kept looking everywhere for signs treasure and noticed a pair of guards at the mouth of a tunnel that when down into the ground. "Wonder where that leads to?" I asked myself, I felt the cart rock and saw that Daring and the Doc have gotten off of it. "Wow Doc, pretty impressive. I didn't think you'd have this many guards," Daring complemented. That makes two of us I thought silently. "Thank you, Daring. I don’t want any pesky raiders stealing from my campsite. I mean what raider would be stupid enough to try and steal anything from here?" The Doc said mockingly. Me, I’m the stupid raider. Daring chuckled at the Doc's cocky ego and walked over to the cart, right next to where I was peeking from, "Do you need help unloading the supplies?" Daring asked as she slapped the cart's cargo, A.K.A my face. PLEASE SAY NO. "No," THANK YOU the Doc said, "We'll unload tomorrow. Right now I want to show you the tomb we've uncovered." When he said the word 'tomb', all I heard was treasure, gold, and jewels. "Seems I'm in my natural element hehehe." As the two entered the tunnel, I patiently waited for the guards to go to sleep and for those two to leave the tunnel. After some while they exited the tunnel and after a small chat Daring left to her tent. I saw the Doc tell both of the guards standing outside something and soon he left to his tent as well. One of the guards pulled out a small whistle from his pocket and blew it, soon all the guards that were around the camp stopped and headed to their tents to rest. It didn't take long before everything was silent, only the crack and pops of the torches's flames filled the air. Perfect it's time to move hehe. What the? I was barely going to climb out, when I noticed a guard snooping around the tents. What is he doing? He kept sneaking around the tents, tiptoeing, and keeping an eye out, as if he didn't want anypony to see him. After sneaking to the edge of the camp the guard trotted off into the desert, where he disappeared in the dunes, "Well that was strange," I said to myself, "Whatever he gone, so it's time to raid." I climbed out of the cart, pulled on the shemagh, and began to make my way to the tunnel. I would have checked out the tents, but the Doc's tent was still lit and I didn't wanted to risk it, not in these conditions. I walked into the entrance tunnel only to see that it was shorter than what I expected, "What no booby traps. No trap doors. Nothing." I said, carefully inspecting the walls, floor, and ceiling. At the end of the tunnel I could see a stone sarcophagus marked with ancient hieroglyphics of some sort of pony king holding a staff in the center while others around bowed in mercy or respect. Walking closer to the stone tomb seemed to only reveal more wonders, since all the room's walls were engraved with three temples, one on each wall, holding something in the center. The engraving on the left wall, pictured a temple with guards, a running river, and at the far top left-side a rising sun, as for the item in the center it was hard to tell what was drawn on because it was clawed off. Strange but I was quite sure that temple looked familiar. The wall on the far right pictured a temple with a setting sun, plant life, water, grass, and by the looks of it maybe even fruit trees, the item in the middle of the temple was the staff the pony king was holding, but something about it seemed different. But the center wall was the most breath taking of all, a massive temple with two Anubis guards standing boldly beside the entrance where the sun was laying inside the temple. After admiring the art it was time to get to business. I looked at the sarcophagus with wide eyes, hoping that inside there might be some gold or jewelry to pay the landlord with. I looked around to see if there was anything I could use to pry it open with, luckily one of the diggers forgot his shovel. "Excuse me, your majesty, but it's for good intentions," I drove the shovel between the tomb slab and coffin, "Nothing personal." I began to wedge the slab to pry it open, but it didn't matter how much strength I used on it, it wouldn't budge. "Damn whatever is inside better be worth the effort,” I told myself. I continued on for several minutes not paying attention if somepony was coming, since I was focused on not coming back home empty hoofed, "Come on, open up." "HEY! WHO ARE YOU!" I dropped the shovel and looked behind me, there stood Daring and the Doc, who was holding some books. "Dear Celestia, a raider! GUARDS! GUARDS!" The Doc exclaimed as he ran out the tunnel. "BUCK! I gotta get out here!" I said to myself, or so I thought since Daring heard me. "You’re not going anywhere unless you go through me first!" She said and took a crouched stance. I didn't want to hurt anypony, but I have no choice, I can't get caught. I poised myself and prepared to fight, "Bring it." Daring used her wings to lunge herself at break neck speed, but like said I'm in my element. I used my acrobatic skills to leap over Daring, aim my hind legs to her back, and buck her into the stone tomb, launching me into a front flip. "AH!! MY WING!!" Daring screamed in pain, when I landed I looked over my shoulder to see the sand covered in blood and her wing bending in an abnormal way. I didn't want to hurt her, but I can't get caught, not now. I cut my losses and galloped towards the exit, where I could run off into the desert back home. But it was too late by the time I made it to the mouth of the tunnel an army of guards had already surrounded the area. "Don't let him escape!" The Doc commanded, the guards slowly moved forward with their lances leveled at me. I started to panic. My heart pounded rapidly out of fear of being caught and my mind raced with thoughts of how I let down Mother, Nibs, and Sapphire. The thoughts started to make me shed tears of sadness and fear, I started to breath heavily with each stepped the guards took knowing that it’s all over... IT’S ALL OVER. "HEY!" "HUH!?" Everything stopped in a cold sudden moment, as laid on the cold sand of the night, in a puddle of blood. I could hear a faint ringing in my ear and I could feel blood slowly seep out of it, my vision grew hazy and dimmer with each blink, and I could see all the guards cheering, but all I heard were the breaths I took as they became weaker and weaker. I felt somepony turn me over to my side and there stood Daring with a bloody shovel in her hooves. "That's for breaking my wing," I saw her lift the shovel high to the air ready to finish the job. I tried to reach for it, but it was pointless. "AND THIS IS PERSONAL!"............... "Daring, you don't look good. Go with the guards back to the city so you can see a doctor to heal your wound before it gets infected and while you’re there throw that scum into jail."........... "Don't worry about the temple’s location. With these books I'll be done no time, I'll probably figure it out by the time you come back."............... Mother, I'm sorry. ________________________________________ At Ahuizotl's Campsite "Master, our inside pony just arrived with report that Daring Do is at the campsite." A pony in uniform, with bandages on his head, reported to his master. "Excellent." Ahuizotl said rubbing his hands together devilishly, as his wild cats began to circle the frightened solider. "Also, he reports that the temple’s location might be decoded by tomorrow morning." The mercenary shuddered as he felt the leopard lick his leg. "Good, good." Ahuizotl said, ignoring his leopard’s rude behavior. "What do you want us to do, Master." The solider tried to speak as clearly as possible, not wanting to scream in horror. Ahuizotl gave a grin that frightened his lackey, "Prepare for war." He said as he pulled back to burst into a maniacal, villainous laugh.