I constantly looked over my shoulders every time we got to the top of a sand dune to see the city in the distance, soon the city disappeared behind the dunes. My mind was still distracted with Sapphire's kiss. Was it for good luck? Was it just a simple gesture of sisterly affection? What if she...? Nah! Or maybe. My mind went back and forth unable to find an answer for my question. Before I could ponder more on Sapphire, Daring brought me back to reality.
"So tell me, what's Ahuizotl’s plan this time?" She asked seriously. I tried to remember as much as possible from the night I spied the blimp to answer her question.
"Uh..." I was idiotically stuck on the realization that the unicorn didn't mention anything about their plans. I didn't want to blow my cover so I decided to make up a lie, but my conscience and the raider code wouldn't permit me.
You have to understand, a long time ago, the greatest raider who ever lived was captured along with his gang. His cohorts lied about everything, blaming all of their thieving on the great raider. The authorities believed them, after all, he was such a legendary raider they believed he actually could rob three tombs at the same time. At the gallows he cursed his former friends and every raider thereafter: who ever lied when captured would be cursed to live a life without friends, joy, or wealth. Having already experienced a terrifying near-tragedy and endless nightmares in my early years of raiding, I and many others have come to respect, fear, and strongly believe this accursed omen.
"I don't know," I answered truthfully, choking myself in my mind for being a completely honest moron. Daring just stared at me for a while and then slouched back, letting out a long sigh.
"Why doesn't he tell his minions his plans? That'd make my job so much easier," She complained, rubbing her forehead to ease the stress. "And I wouldn't have to deal with any of this," she gestured to me and her broken wing. I stayed quiet thinking of the perfect time to deploy my escape plan and to get my gauntlet back. Before she figured out I'm not one of Ahuizotl's henchponies.
"So tell me. What do you know?" She asked again. I was having an internal mental battle: to tell a lie, or to tell the truth, as the code demand. It was impossible for me to change my way of life, I was raised that way. Not even when the ones I love are in dire need of me, I couldn't defy the raider code. Not wanting to tell her everything I knew, I decided to use her complaints to my advantage.
"Look, Daring. I know you don't want to deal with me at all."
"Is it that obvious?" She remarked.
"Lets be honest. Both you and I are reasonable ponies. Aren't we?"
"Don't tell me. You want to work out a deal with me, so you can go free. Don't ya," She said rolling her eyes. "Let me take a guess what are you going to offer me. Money, power, information, or something absolutely stupid that I don't need? Get to the point."
"Okay. I'll tell you all I know about Ahuizotl and in return you give me my gauntlet. Deal?" I bargained.
"Your gauntlet? That's all? No freedom or money?"
"Nope. Just my gauntlet." I said, Daring stopped to think it through.
"Fine. Tell me what you know and I'll give you your gauntlet back." She said, placing the gauntlet next to her. Well played, Daring, but in the end I'll have the last laugh!
"Very well." I began to tell her about the night the blimp was being emptied out at the port. I told her how many ponies I saw there. How many crates. What the crates were carrying. That they were being taken to the camp out in the desert. She asked me who was in charge of the unloading. I answered her that a unicorn mare with a whip kept giving out orders, not giving any details about her since I didn't see any myself. But when she heard 'unicorn mare with a whip', she immediately named her out as, 'La Tiga.' By the sound of her exotic name, I guessed that she must be foreign. I gave her all the information I could milk out from the blimp scene. Perfectly omitting how I was involved during the whole explanation. Daring’s face held a semi-pleased expression with my information and she seemed to be willing to keep her word.
Thirty minutes soon passed and I was finished giving Daring what she wanted, everything I knew about Ahuizotl. I was eagerly waiting for Daring to hoof me my gauntlet, but she was still busy absorbing everything, and I could see that something was bothering her. "I have one question," she finally said.
"What is it?" I would have told her that 'That was everything I know' but doing so might just put me in a tight spot.
"You said that you didn't know what his plan was, right?"
"Correct." I didn't know where she was going with this question, but I decided to play along.
"Then, why on earth were you in our campsite if you didn't know what Ahuizotl is planning?" She asked.
"Oh... Uhm..."
I didn't see that coming and already I could feel the words of truth traveling up my throat, ready to tell her that I'm a fraud and that I was trying to steal from the tomb to save the orphanage. I bit my lips in order to keep my mouth sealed, causing me to stop pulling the cart. I tried fighting the urge, but it was a battle I wasn't going to win.
"Hey, are you going to answer me or not?" Daring said, climbing down the cart with my gauntlet in a bag. I couldn't hold on any longer I was going to suffocate on the truth. I took a deep breath to tell her the honest truth, but something dark in the skies of the horizon, emitting from the direction of where the Doc's camp was caught my attention. "Smoke?!"
"What? Smokes?"
"No. Smoke, look," I pointed to the smoke trail in the clouds.
"That's coming from the Doc's camp! Come on follow me!" Daring ordered as she trotted in the direction of the smoke.
"Wait! Give me my gauntlet! I told you everything I know. That was the deal."
Daring turned around and shout, "I lied. I wasn't really going to give it to you, but if you still want it. Come and get it."
"That bitch!" I said to myself as I chased Daring.
Daring always stayed ahead of me by a few feet, making it hard for me to reach out and snatch the bag. It wasn’t long before we arrived and could clearly see the campsite was destroyed. All the tents were torn open and flattened, most of them were on fire. Only the checkpoint tower, near the encampment entrance, was still standing but it too was burning.
“Look!” Daring shouted, pointing to something crawling on the ground in the middle of the chaos. It was the Doc laying in the middle of the campsite, near the tomb entrance, beaten up pretty badly by the size of blood stains on his shirt.
“Daring...” I couldn’t make out the rest of what he said over the loud crackling of the fire.
“Doc! Hold on!” Daring trotted faster to aid the Doc. Already I could feel something wasn’t right, “Where’s everypony else?”
Where were the guards from the previous night? Something was definitely not right here. I galloped behind Daring, warning her that something was odd about the situation. But she just ignored me, too focused on the Doc’s well being. I kept reaching for the bag not wanting to stay any longer, but Daring caught me in the act and trotted even faster leaving me behind again.
“Damn it,” I said as we quickly passed the torched tower.
“Doc, I’m here!” Daring screamed as she galloped towards him, throwing the bag down.
The Doc looked up and waved at her to turn around, “Daring! Run! Its a trap!” The Doc tried to warn her.
A deafening crash erupted from behind me, I looked over to see the tower had toppled over. Two of Ahuizotl’s goons hoof-pounded each other, proud of their violent work, and disappeared behind the cliff’s edge. The tower created an impenetrable wall of fire, blocking our exit. Daring was looking around to see if there was any other way out, but it was pointless. Ahuizotl’s minions had surrounded the area with fire. And Daring couldn’t fly away with the wounded Doc on her back.
“Well, if it isn’t Daring Do.” This strange looking beast said as it walked up to the edge of the cliff, petting a white kitten, staring at me and Daring with piercing eyes.
“Ahuizotl!” Daring shouted. The terror from seeing Ahuizotl in the flesh, had over-powered my common sense, it made me forget that I was still undercover.
“THAT’S AHUIZOTL!” I blurt out loud mindlessly, realizing that both Ahuizotl and Daring could hear me.
“What!?” She said, confused that I didn’t recognize my own master when I saw him.
“Who’s that? Your newest recruit. It’s a shame that he has to die on his first mission.”
“WHAT?!” Daring responded, realizing I was a fraud, and not the minion she thought I was.
“I would love to stay and dispose of you two myself, but I have other places to be,” Ahuizotl pulled out a strange looking whistle in the shape of a cat, with his bizarre tail.
The whistle emitted a loud ‘meow,’ that echoed for a bit. Daring took a fighting pose prepared for what’s to come as I looked around frantically for what his signal caused or called to. As soon as the meow faded, four massive cats leaped from behind Ahuizotl and into the ring of fire to butcher us. Before we could react, they landed and began to circle around, kicking up sand to blind us. I pulled the shemagh over my face to block out most of the dirt from entering my eyes and mouth, I could hear Daring coughing and wheezing as the sand got in her throat.
The dust slowly floated down to reveal a panther, a tiger, a jaguar, and a cheetah, surrounding us and circling slowly. Ahuizotl had disappeared. I noticed the bag with my gauntlet on the floor, next to the Doc. I started to walk backwards towards the bag to reach for the only weapon keeping my eye on the predators, as the cats began to close in. Once I was near enough I blindly fished into the bag, not wanting to take my eye off the jaguar, but when I felt another hoof grabbing my gauntlet I couldn’t help but turn around to see Daring. She had gotten the same idea as I, but I wasn’t going to let her take it again, I looked past her and saw the panther pounce towards Daring. Fearing that the jaguar had done the same, I shoved Daring the ground and snapped the gauntlet into place.
The panther’s powerful paws threw me off balance, sending me flying backwards towards the jaguar, leaping over Daring. As fell back I saw the jaguar had mimicked the panther and pounced as well, giving me the upper hoof in the fight. I placed my hind legs on the panther’s chest, as soon as I hit the ground I used the thrust from the impact to counter the panther’s attack. The jaguar clashed with the massive panther in mid air, sending it flying over the wall of fire, disappearing behind the flames. The panther landed just a few inches away from the fire, quickly recovering to its feet and leaped once again, roaring in rage.
As I dodge back to avoid his second strike, with the gauntlet I tossed a pile of sand to his face. The panther passed through the cloud of dirt, coughing and rubbing his eyes. I leaped into the air and punched him in the back of his head with the gauntlet, burying his face in even more sand. Pissed, he began to swipe blindly in front of him, hoping to catch me with a lucky shot. I quickly evaded to his left side, and once again jumped into the air to land a hammer-fist on his back. Blind, confused, and impaired I wrapped my forelegs around him and bear hugged the air out of him, being careful not to get bitten or scratched. I pulled back to stand on two legs, still squeezing the air out of him as panther thrashed and hissed struggling to get free. It took several agonizing moments before the panther began to slowly lose consciousness. Knowing that he was ready to pass out, I jumped backwards and jerked back, pile driving the panther to the ground, sending sand flying upwards from the impact.
I rolled sideways away from the panther, exhausted but stared in amazement to see that the panther was still barely conscious, looking back at me. I quickly got up, remembering that there was still a cheetah and leopard to take care off. I was scared to see that the leopard was lying on the ground, with the bag over it’s head, and that Daring was pinned to the ground by the cheetah, struggling to get it off of her. I dashed my way over to her, but fell down when a weight crashed onto my back. I squirmed to get back up but something was pinning me to the ground. I felt a set of claws gash my back, easily cutting through my thick duster. I back-elbowed whatever had clawed my back and flopped around to conceal the bleeding wound, to see my cheap-shot attacker. I found the jaguar, with his fur completely torched, stagger back and pounce at me. His paws crushed into my chest, preventing me from breathing or squirming loose, while he aimed to bite my jugular. I stuffed my gauntlet between his jaw and my neck, protecting my throat from being ripped open by an undercooked jaguar. I could hear his teeth grind against the metal of the gauntlet, as he tried to close his mouth to deliver the final fatal blow. As I lost my breath I looked over to Daring, still struggling with the cheetah, it was pretty clear that we were both done for.
I could feel the razor-sharp fangs penetrating through the skin, drawing out beads of blood, only giving the jaguar the taste for more. As I and Daring struggled to delay our death, a sharp meow whistled through the air, causing the cats to immediately stop fighting. Both the jaguar and cheetah quickly leaped off of us and hurried to their fallen comrade. The cheetah carried the leopard on his back and scurried over to catch up with the jaguar and panther, who were kicking sand to make a breach in the wall of fire. As quickly as they appeared the cats disappeared into the desert responding to their master’s call.
“That was... lucky.” I said joking, grateful that I was still alive. Daring wasn’t amused. She tackled me to the floor, squeezing my throat with her hooves.
“You think this some kind of joke? Because of your lying, I have no leads to where he is or clues to what he’s planning. You just put the world in jeopardy!” I would have shot back that everything I said was true, but her hooves weren’t letting me. Daring finally let go when my face had turned dark blue in color. She looked over to the opening in the fire and saw the paws of the cats making a trail that led into the desert, her only chance to get Ahuizotl before it was too late. Thinking on the fly, Daring quickly went over to the Doc. “Doc, what are my chance of survival if I follow those tracks out into the desert?” The Doc simply stared at her, too weak to even speak.
*Cough* “Duh, like everything else you will die, or get eaten.” I interrupted, soothing the pain on my throat. Daring stared at me menacingly and then turned back to the Doc, who was nodding at her not to do it.
“I’m sorry, Doc. But if I don’t, I’ll lose Ahuizotl for good this time. Just wait here. I’m sure help is on its way.” Daring crossed the dying flames and stared at the tracks leading into the desert, probably leading to her certain doom.
“What about me?” I asked, as I prepared for the long walk back to the city.
“YOU! You can burn in hell, rot in jail, or get lost in the desert for all I care! You good-for-nothing thief. ”
“Does that mean, I’m free to go?”
“You're unbelievable!” She said in disgust. I didn’t care for all I know that sounded like a “yes” to me and once again I was a free pony. Daring trotted into the desert leaving me behind with the smoldering remains of a campsite just waiting to be raided by somepony.
It didn’t take long for much raiding to happen, I found myself with some new re-sellable goods that had been left behind. With my fortune, it was time for me to head home, where Sapphire, Nibs, and Mother were waiting for me. I felt proud of myself for making it out alive and staying true to my word to fix this mess. With my hoof filled with loot, I looked around to see if I could find anything to carry it with and spotted the bag that had held my gauntlet next to the injured Doc.
I made my way over to the bag and the Doc, still bleeding badly from his wounds. I loaded the goods inside the bag but I kept staring at the Doc, breathing heavily in pain with tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. I tossed the bag over my back and slowly walked away from him, but a sense of guilt rapidly ate away at me. Never in my life had I ever walked away from somepony in such need. It was in my nature to help them when they need help, with the foolish idea that they would have done the same for me, when clearly they wouldn’t have. I looked at the distance, in the direction of where the city was and looked for any signs of a rescue or delivery crew, but saw nothing. I blocked the memory of Doc calling the guards to arrest me and walked back towards him. I tore a piece of cloth from the back of my shredded duster and began to wrap it around his arm, where he still had an open wound.
He looked at me with surprise, “Why?” He murmured in a weak tone. I didn’t answer him, for I didn’t know why either, and continued to cover his wounds with strips of my clothing. After a while, all his wounds were bandaged and cleaned out. Feeling good about myself, I walked over to my bag of loot, but felt the Doc’s hoof grasp my leg.
I shook his hoof off and looked at him, “What!?” I asked in strict voice, not wanting to stay any longer.
“Please,” He begged, crawling over to me.
“Please?” I didn’t understand what he was asking from me.
“Please,” he repeated, looking at the tracks Daring left behind, slowly disappearing as the winds began to pick up, a sandstorm was approaching.
“Nah ah. I told her that she was going to die. That’s what she chose, plus she nearly killed me with a shovel,” I remind the Doc. I got my bag and jumped over the fallen tower, not wanting to waste any more time.
“If I sprint it back to the city I’ll arrive by nightfall, giving me the advantage to sneak back to the orphanage unseen,” I planned, tightening my shemagh for the sandstorm to come. I looked back at the Doc and saw him crying to a picture inside a heart-shaped pendant, that he produced from within his shirt. The picture showed the Doc, when he was much younger, carrying a small filly in his arms, wearing a explorer's hat that was way too big for her. It didn’t take me long to figure out the filly in the picture was Daring. Seeing the Doc reminded me of myself when I cried for those who I lost in that horrid nightmare. I looked at Daring’s tracks, leading away from the city, and back to the direction the city was at. I didn’t think twice before I knew what I was about to do. Damn my kind heart. I dropped the bag and began to run in the direction Daring had headed, hoping that I could catch up to her before she found Ahuizotl, or something worse.