//------------------------------// // Daring Do and the Compass of Desire part 3 // Story: Daring Do and the Compass of Desire // by Shahrazad //------------------------------// Ahuizotl stepped off of the train and into the snow with a crunch. End of the line. This was as far north as he was going to get by train. He hadn’t heard back from Ms. Fortune but that didn’t concern him. Odds were she had failed but it didn’t matter, his next move was dictated by the text in his possession. He grinned at his companions and began to tighten their harnesses. Soon the wind was in his hair as he cracked the whip. ”Mush!” he shouted and cracked the whip again. The sled wasn’t heavy and Ahuizotl didn’t take too much in the way of provisions but the elements took their toll on the jungle cats nonetheless. They were not designed for such cold climates. The stolen sled hissed over the snow. Ahuizotl frequently looked up to see if there was a great airship in the sky but today it was clear. A massive mountain loomed in the distance. “Soon, you will be mine,” Ahuizotl said to the mountain’s summit. =====*****===== It had taken over an hour for her to patch the holes in the ship including the fresh one left after she pulled the awl out. She landed near the Lieutenant right where she had left her. “What took you so long? Did I see somepony fall?” Daring Do collapsed holding her hooves over her chest. The pain had gotten worse the longer she worked but the ship had to be repaired. With the Lieutenant’s help she made the trek to the medical bay and collapsed into bed. Great, another night in here with Nurse Snow Heart and the poison she calls food. She had fresh bandages around her barrel when she dragged herself into the conference room the next morning. Lucky it was just a bruised rib and not a broken one. “I’m glad you can join us Ms. Do despite your injuries. Thank you again for patching my ship. Unfortunately we are low on hydrogen and those patches will not hold in high altitude. We have some decisions to make and they affect you directly. If you would take a look at the map we can begin.” Gold Bar gestured to a sprawling map sitting on a large teak table. Daring Do had seated herself in one of the plush chairs and tried to scoot it closer to the table so she could get a better look. She glanced down and realized the chairs were bolted to the floor, so she had to lean in causing her rib to poke her again, she winced in pain. She sighed softly and gazed at the map. Now this was something she was familiar with. There was a placed marked as the Dragon’s Tooth near the north edge of the map. Daring Do looked closely at it and its topographical lines. Her eyes grew wider as she studied the map and began to calculate just how tall this mountain was, it was thousands of leagues high. “Can the ship reach the summit?” Gold Bar’s brow dropped and his lips narrowed, “As I said, not with patched and deflated hydrogen cells. Even if we were in perfect condition I doubt it. We’ll have to descend to set up camp and once we do the ship will need to refuel and properly repair the damage to our hydrogen cells. I’m sorry but you’ll have to climb the mountain by hoof.” “And I don’t think I can fly up there, the air gets thin beyond a certain point.” She winced in pain at the thought of flying so much. “If this map is accurate, I could fly about half way up the mountain and then hoof it the rest of the way.” Daring Do looked at Gold Bar, Hard Hoof, Lieutenant Compass Rose and Snow Heart seated across the table. Gold Bar shook his head. “I would rather you took a team with you, there’s no telling what’s on the mountain and since you’ll have to hoof it anyway you might as well bring some help. We can land and set up a base camp here-” he pointed to a flat spot at the base of the Dragon’s Tooth, “and then you can start up the mountain the next morning.” Daring Do was not used to having assistance, but wasn’t about to refuse Gold Bar’s generous offer. “Alright, but I don’t want to wait, not with Ahuizotl on the trail as well. At the speed we are going he could arrive before us. He’s crafty and I wouldn’t put it past him to figure out a way to get there before we do. And I don’t want to wait another minute much less another day. So here’s what I propose…” =====*****===== Gold Bar had objected to her plan, but she couldn't stand waiting any longer. Nor would she admit it, but any excuse to get away from Snow Heart and her rough care was worth taking a risk for. She looked around at the four earth ponies with her, the bulky saddle bags they wore were stuffed with the necessities of their journey. The leader of this little band was none other than Lieutenant Compass Rose. They could all hear the hum of the engines here, a steady tone that rattled your organs like house music with plenty of bass. Daring Do had spent much of the past six days on the ship confined to the medical bay. Snow Heart couldn't keep her there all the time and Daring frequently left when Snow Heart wasn't looking. She just wanted to get herself fresh air or food. She felt much better after only a single meal in the wardroom with Gold Bar and the officers of the crew, Gold Bar chuckled and indulged her when he realized what she was running away from. The food was far better than the garbage she was being served in the hospital wing, having a private chef tended to result in better meals. After six days with nothing to do she found a new level of boredom, one that caused her mind to wander into fantasies about what she could find at the summit. She was so excited this morning she hardly slept and sprang out of her bed with such vigor she felt like a filly again. She dressed in a heavy jacket with a hood that made her begin to sweat within seconds. She almost galloped down the passageways to the aft end of the Sky Master and found the special room she was looking for. “Ok this should be fun. Is everypony ready?” She looked around at the other four. They all nodded but she could see the sweat forming on the coat of at least one of the stallions before he pulled his jacket on. Compass Rose seemed calm, but Daring Do noticed her hind hooves quivering. Whether this was excitement or fear, she couldn’t say. A klaxon began to sound and a horizontal beam of light broke the far wall. It expanded downward into a long rectangle. Daring Do took in a breath, allowing her ears to pop. The air was so thin but it was so fresh, after six days onboard the Sky Master she couldn’t wait to be under her own power again even with a bruised rib. The loading bay door stopped, it made a gentle slope down into…nothing. The dull roar of the engines flooded their ears. Frigid wind whipped into the docking bay, the other four ponies began to shiver and lean back just a bit. Daring Do had a smile that hinted at insanity, she looked at her companions and shouted over the engines, “ok, time to go!” Without another moment’s hesitation she jumped into space. The exhilaration was exquisite, the air was so cold but Daring Do allowed her wings to stay at her sides. The air rushed by so fast it started to feel as if she were burning. She allowed it, knowing the moment she started to fly it was going to get very cold, very fast. A white landscape spread out below her, white clouds and white snow. The Dragon’s Tooth dominated her vision, a mass so large it occupied a quarter of her view, even from this distance. She looked up and saw four little dots fall out of the Sky Master. The Sky Master looked so insignificant compared to the land and sky, strange to think I spent so much time there. She angled her body and burst through the wispy clouds, aiming for the agreed upon clearing. Gold Bar’s maps were accurate, it was right where she expected it to be. She flared her wings to slow her decent. She landed in the clearing with a crunch as she broke through the layer of snow. She sank up to her chest in what felt like a soft fluffy pillow made of OH SWEET CELESTIA THAT’S COLD! Daring Do flapped her wings again and hovered above the snow, each beat of her wings sending a warning twinge across her chest. She couldn’t fly all day of course but the snow was so much colder than the air about her and the exertion heated her body. Good to know I’d rather be sweating in a jungle than freezing on a mountain. She waited for what seemed like hours for the other four ponies to arrive. They eventually did, their parachutes breaking through the clouds above her and drifting down like overgrown snowflakes. Daring Do wanted to start her climb as soon as they arrived. One of the ponies, the sweating stallion, drifted away from the clearing. He tumbled through an evergreen knocking snow and twigs down in a heap. His parachute was caught in the tree and he dangled there helpless while the other three unhooked their harnesses. Daring Do rolled her eyes, another delay. She flew towards him and he smiled when he saw her. “Think you can cut me down?” Daring Do pulled out her trusty pocket knife and started to saw through the cords in his harness. CRACK The tree branch snapped just as he was cut free, he tumbled down the rest of the way and landed near the base of the tree. Snow swallowed him up, from her vantage point Daring Do could see a pony shaped hole in the snow. She drifted down towards where he fell. “Are you ok?” She was about to reach a hoof down to start sifting through the snow when she saw the tracks. Some feline had left deep tracks in the snow around the other side of the tree. “Ahuizotl” she said out loud. She couldn’t know for sure, it could have been a snow leopard or a lynx, but she just knew it was him. The stallion burst out of the snow like he was on fire. He gasped for air, having experienced the cold first hoof. Daring Do assisted him and they rejoined the others. She regretted it, but she landed next to them allowing the snow to hit her again. Without her jacket she knew she would not last long in this weather. She looked up at the mountain that loomed above her and swallowed a lump in her throat. It was huge, and they were going to climb that? She was glad to have the assistance of Lieutenant Rose and the others because this was going to be a tough hike. “I want to start immediately, let Gold Bar set up his base camp here. If all goes well we’ll return before he’s finished.” She seriously doubted that, especially with Ahuizotl out there somewhere but now was the time for optimism. The other four ponies nodded and they began their trek. =====*****===== The wind howled all night but Daring Do was so tired she slept like a filly. When she awoke the next morning the wind had died and the cold…well it was still very cold but it was much warmer than the night time. She unzipped her tent and looked out. The others were still asleep, “TIME TO WAKE UP!” She shouted with glee while banging a pair of pots together. They were under an overhang of rock which provided some shelter from the snow. Firewood collected the previous night was now dry and Daring Do had no trouble staring a fire. Lieutenant Compass Rose poked her head out of her tent, her eyes still drooping. “You’re a slave driver Ms. Do,” Daring Do only smiled and put on more oatmeal in response. Either the sound of pots or the smell of oatmeal drew the others out of their slumber. They always had their heavy jackets on, and Daring Do idly wondered what the soft lining of her jacket would smell like after a week of wearing it. She tried not to think about it. The other four ate breakfast quietly, savoring the hot meal. Daring Do took a deep breath. The air was so crisp here it smelled primal, untouched by time or tide. Daring Do was less pleased with the view, while it was breath taking there was so much white that she was afraid that if she spent too much time on this mountain she would forget what colors were. Once they had eaten their fill Daring Do decided now would be the best time to break the bad news, “I think we might not be the only ones on this mountain. I saw feline tracks yesterday, and I think Ahuizotl might be here with us. But don’t worry we can beat him, and he might not even be here anyway.” She tried to sound optimistic. The natural elements of this place were bad enough without adding Ahuizotl into the mix. None of the four ponies with her reacted to the news they just looked tired and sipped from their thermoses. ”Well, let’s not all speak at once.” “Heh heh, don’t worry Ms. Do, if Ahuizotl is up here he’s as miserable as we are and we’re prepared for him anyway.” The lieutenant produced a set of spiked horseshoes and armored security barding. “Gold Bar doesn’t like anypony getting in his way,” she deadpanned. Daring Do could only shake her head slowly at the forethought of Gold Bar and the resources at his command. They ate and started up the mountain again, their breath steaming in the thinning air. They trudged through snow, snow, and more snow. They made steady progress up the slope which slowly grew more and more treacherous. They focused on their freezing misery and stoically trudged on, saying nothing to each other as they suffered together. The wind decided their journey was too easy and started to flow down the mountain carrying snowflakes which stung their eyes. They stopped for lunch in a grove of evergreens which provided shelter from the wind. The wind took revenge as soon as they started up the slope again leaving the shelter of the little grove behind. It was nightfall when they breached the tree line. There would be no more shelter from evergreens anymore. Once the sun set the wind picked up and the cold became remorseless. It was like a living thing that sliced through their jackets and ate heat like a ravenous beast. Daring Do felt herself losing heat, energy, and hope. She looked around and spotted an inky black splotch in the mountain side above them. She waved and shouted over the howling wind, “I think that might be a cave, let’s get up there and get out of this weather.” The other four ponies nodded with enthusiasm. They reached the cave after a few minutes that seemed like hours. Daring Do shined her trusty lantern into the black cave and thanked Celestia again. Inside it was dry and fairly deep, the light of her firefly lantern didn’t reach the back wall. She and the other four ponies quickly ducked inside, the wind died instantly and the cold didn’t bite so much. They all breathed a sigh of relief except Daring Do. All of her muscles were tense but only Compass Rose noticed. “Is everything alright ma’am?” “Shhh-“ Daring Do put a hoof to Rose’s lips and spoke quietly. “We don’t know what’s in this cave. In wild environments a cave like this is valuable real estate for animals. I don’t want to sleep here until we know who’s home.” She and Compass Rose slowly walked to the back of the cave, the echoes of their hooves making it sound like they were a two pony army, searching for anything that might decide ponies were tasty. Daring Do found the back of the dank cave and stared into an inky black set of holes, it looked like Swiss cheese. There were a few stalactites and stalagmites surrounded by what could be homes for mice if said mice could chew through solid stone. Daring Do felt warm air flowing out of some of these holes in a steady rhythm, as if the mountain itself were breathing. Lieutenant Compass Rose nuzzled up to the warm air, “ahhhh that’s better.” “Careful Lieutenant, we don’t know what’s living in there.” Lieutenant Rose looked at Daring Do, her eyes became narrow and her lips pressed together. “We can start a fire instead, we have some firewood left over, right?” Compass Rose’s expression softened, “yes we do, but I would rather save it for later if we can we only have so many heat packs, and once they’re used up I don’t want to be anywhere but at the base camp.” Daring Do shook her head, “it’s better if we burn up the wood now, it’s too heavy to carry further anyway.” Compass Rose nodded and before long they were all sitting around a fire as each pony drifted off to sleep in the warmth. Daring Do wanted nothing more than to sleep, but nudged the Lieutenant and said, “we have to set up a watch rotation, if Ahuizotl or any animals are around we don’t want to be caught asleep and this cave is a very attractive place to bed down.” Rose huffed and ordered the other ponies to take shifts, but she got her revenge by making Daring Do take the first watch. Daring Do looked out of the mouth of the cave, sitting on her haunches with her back to the smoldering fire. Every so often she feed another log into the fire, allowing the stack of firewood to dwindle lower. The stars came out, and then Daring Do’s smile grew with awe. As an explorer she got to see some very strange things, but never had she seen this. She had heard of it, but like so many myths it was so much better when it was real. They sky was lit by a ghostly curtain made of strange cool hues. Blues and greens, with the occasional purple, floated silently. It, whatever it was, shifted slowly as if it were a cloth drifting in calm water. Daring Do watched it for hours entranced by the shifting light and color. She nearly jumped out of her horseshoes when Compass Rose tapped her on the shoulder to relieve her. Compass watched the lights for a moment with glassy eyes then began her sentinel watch over the lifeless snowscape. Daring Do was about to say something about appreciating beauty but sleep got the better of her forcing her to retreat to her sleeping bag near the smoldering campfire. She tossed another log into the fire and drifted off to dream of curtains of light in a starry sky before the log could ignite. =====*****===== Daring Do awoke the next morning to the sound of bubbles popping. Compass Rose was already awake and boiling water to make oatmeal, light snoring came out of the other three lumps still wrapped in dreams. “See anything last night?” Daring Do was hoping to talk about the strange lights in the sky. “Nah.” Was the only reply she could get from Compass Rose. Daring Do’s ears drooped against her head. She would have to come back here after this expedition was over and study these northern lights more closely. That thought warmed her and allowed her to eat breakfast with a smile. The other ponies munched on breakfast around the campfire when Daring Do trotted outside to get their bearings for the day. That’s when she saw them. There was a set of tracks in the snow, and they were not hoof prints. They meandered around a rock outcropping some distance below their cave. She trotted towards it, hoping it was not what she thought it was. No such luck. Set into the snow were several sets of paw prints heading up the mountain. They were single file for the most part, making the tracks difficult to distinguish from one another. They plowed through the snow leaving a narrow trough. Daring Do looked at the track with her eyes unblinking and her jaw set. There was another set of tracks, hoofprints this time that went near this spot from their cave. She flew the short distance back to their little cave, the thin air making her breathe heavily. “I have bad news, I just found tracks that I am almost certain belong to Ahuizotl and his cats… And none of you saw him! Did anypony leave their watch last night?” The four ponies looked at each other, Compass Rose put a hoof over her mouth. “um…” the stallion named Menteur spoke up, his eyes rolled up and to the left as he spoke, “I might have left for a few minutes to make yellow snow.” Daring Do rolled her eyes and pulled him to the mouth of the cave. She pointed with a hoof towards the outcropping. “Did you go behind that rock?” “Yeah, I did. It was very dark last night, but I didn’t see or hear anything.” Daring Do just sighed and walked back towards the group. “Great, just great, Ahuizotl is definitely on this mountain and he’s probably ahead of us. Unless-“ Daring Do’s mind began racing. “We follow his tracks and take him out!” She stomped a hoof down with a clack to emphasize her point. The other four looked down and wouldn’t meet the fire in her eyes. “Trust me on this one, if we don’t do something about him, he’s going to swoop in and steal the compass at the last second.” “I supposed you have a point Ms. Do, but from everything you’ve told us Ahuizotl is very dangerous.” Compass Rose looked at Daring Do right in the eyes, “Shouldn’t we try to avoid a confrontation?” Daring Do brushed a hoof through her mane feeling the missing patch of hair where the lynx (or was it the tiger?) had taken a bite. Fuzz was now starting to grow back, but the feeling of nakedness wouldn’t go away. “I’m not saying we have to kill him, but if we don’t get his whistle away from him, he’s going to be super dangerous. Besides, we’re prepared for him right?” Daring Do couldn’t help but smile at the thought of getting the drop on Ahuizotl for once. The grin on her face made the other four ponies gulp down any further objections. =====*****===== They had been following the tracks all morning. The wind was absent today and for that they were all thankful. It had also stopped snowing, allowing the tracks they were following to persist. They entered the cloud layer shortly after breakfast. It was like walking into a thick fog, she could make out the shapes of her companions and the tracks they were following but little else. In fact Daring Do could hardly tell what was up and what was down. As a pegasus she had to push the clouds out of the way making her progress doubly difficult. The soft crunch of snow from their hoof falls was the only sound she could hear. These clouds were so unlike those back home. Back home they were soft, fluffy, and warm, like white cotton candy. These clouds were thin, wispy, and cold. What was more the air was getting thinner all the time. They rose above the cloud layer and Daring Do had to smile. The sun came out and while the air was cold the sun was always warm. By the time their stomachs began to rumble for lunch Daring Do motioned for them to wait. She wanted to look beyond the next drab outcropping of rock and she wanted to test a theory. She flapped her wings as hard as she could and while she did rise off the ground the effort was monumental. The air is getting too thin to fly. She landed on top of the next outcropping and took in the view. A sheer cliff was on each side of a narrow path covered in snow stretching before her. The tracks they were following went right across the knife like edge of the mountain. Like an incisor next to a molar, this mountain led to the rest of the Dragon’ Tooth. She caught her breath while the rest of the team ascended to her position. They looked at the tracks in the snow and the narrow path before them. “I’ll go first,” Daring Do volunteered, it was her expedition after all. “We’ll go one at a time and to make sure nopony falls we’ll tie a rope to each other.” They tied a rope about their midsections with Daring Do at the front. Now that she was properly tethered, she started across the narrow edge trying not to look down. She was halfway across when she glanced to her left and saw the crevasse disappear into the clouds below. She squeezed her eyes shut as vertigo threatened to overtake her. Don’t look down. “HA HA HA HA HA, so good to see you again Daring Do.” You have got to be kidding me, Daring Do thought to herself. She slowly opened her eyes to the very real danger in front of her. Ahuizotl was standing far on the other side of the narrow bridge in the snow surrounded by his feline companions. He wore some kind of polar bear coat, and his cats were shivering. “Although I don’t think we’ll see each other again since you’ve fallen into my trap Daring Do.” A shiver ran down Daring Do’s spine that had nothing to do with the cold. Ahuizotl pulled the whistle to his lips and blew a loud note. Daring Do tensed, blinked, and waited. CRACK Suddenly Daring Do watched in numb shock as the world tilted to the right. She tumbled into the cold abyss. She flapped her wings to right herself, to return to Ahuizotl and beat him to a pulp or at least beat him to the treasure. Her lungs burned with too little air and her wings seemed to do nothing. The last thing she remembered was a snow back rushing up to meet her before everything went cold and dark. Ahuizotl watched Daring Do tumble out of sight into the ravine with a grin that showed mirth and teeth. He tossed a pith helmet after her, “no olvides tu sombrero, Daring Do.” Then he laughed and strode up the mountain without anypony to stop him.