//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 : Prime Directive // Story: Branded by Friendship // by redstone //------------------------------// The search party was bearing down on the fugitives, and Melkor the Damned could not be happier. The chase had lasted months but finally, Mès and Aurora would be apprehended. They would be brought before the Emperor , publicly humiliated and executed in an arena, possibly with the help of a lion or two. Maybe even a tiger. Everything was better with tigers. The trail of destruction those two had left in their wake had quickly transformed them into living legends: this should have been just another story of a citizen falling in love with a slave, dishonoring herself and all of her family, but noooo. This was Mès we were talking about, the first true son of Ammit to be born in a long, long time. It had been Melkor’s job to carve his stigma on the infant Mès, if only he had known then what a nightmare the little shit would become, he would have smothered him in his filthy crib. Now someone sporting his stigma was carving a path of chaos through the Empire. First in Alexandria, where some incompetent law enforcer had riled up a crowd to take down the illegitimate couple instead of forming a battalion with soldiers and some Branded. Madness. Everyone knew that Mès was powerful, if he had not been scheduled for admission in the Order of the Damned he would have been killed long ago. And what a good addition to the Order he would have been... Melkor had protected the young sorcerer since the first signs of his unusual powers. He could not wait to have Mès for himself once the young slave was just ripe enough. If Mès was unwilling he would have been branded with Melkor’s mark, his first order making him swear allegiance to all other Damned. Such a good toy he could have been, the old Damned could only lick his lips at the thought. But now, with half of the city ablaze and even a wing of the great library turned to ashes, that could never happen. The great library of Alexandria, destroyed by fire? Unthinkable. Thankfully the Damned managed to control the fire before the damage spread too far. It was their base of opérations after all. The duo had then avoided detection until they were spotted in the port of Leptis Magna, stocking up a small vessel with as much provisions as they could fit inside. Of course, the military didn’t wait for Melkor and his acolytes and had engaged Mès without any Damned or Branded backup. The Romans were helplessly stuck with the idea that sorcerers were good for nothing. Well maybe with half of the port’s fleet sunk or burned beyond repair they would change their minds. When Melkor had arrived the day after the fight, the green flames were still burning, taunting him. Mès and Aurora, of course, were long gone. Melkor and two other Damned commandeered a birene and set off in pursuit, catching up to the smaller ship in no time. The chase on the sea was short lived as the couple shipwrecked themselves trying to avoid capture. He still laughed out loud whenever he remembered the scene: Aurora bravely keeping hold of the helm while Mès threw up everywhere on the deck. Glorious. The land of the Gauls provided those two with some good cover and shelter. But he had cornered them once near a village. Just the memory of that fight gave him shivers. It had been a long time since any Damned had to show his full power, and Melkor and his two brethren gave it their all. And it had still not been enough. The forest surrounding the village had been burned down and the hamlet itself partially blown away. Explosions were always Melkor’s forte. The next fight would be decisive, so Melkor had requested a few more Branded and some legionaries with dogs. Now the hounds were running towards the side of a mountain, closer inspection revealing a cave hidden from view. Romans and Branded carrying torches rushed the entrance while the three Damned lazily followed. If Mès was still inside, they wanted to enjoy the firework from a distance. “Where are they?” Someone shouted. “The dogs lost their trail here!” The soldiers leashed their confused dogs, trying to get them to find a trace, the three Damned catching up to them in the mouth of the cavern. “You, Branded, search the cave” Melkor loved commanding, even more when he could give orders to roman citizens. “And you, legionaries, try to get their scent around the side of the mountain.” Oh how they all hated taking orders from him, that made it even more enjoyable. He could feel the soldiers’ hatred when they dispersed into the wilderness, hopefully they would run into a roaming bear or two. “What do you think? Did they fly away?” One of the other Damned was looking at the sky, smirking. “Wouldn’t surprise me coming from that crazy kid.” “Truly remarkable specimen.” The second Damned chimed in. “Makes you proud to be a sorcerer.” He then bursted out in derisive laughter. “Ain’t that right monkeys?” He shouted after the Branded examining the bottom of the cave. “Shut up you two” Melkor had a little smile on his face, but still wanted to concentrate. “Can’t you feel it?” “What, you mean the lingering aftertaste in the air?” The Damned started to converge towards an invisible marker. “The one that tells us that a pretty powerful spell was used in this cave very recently? Nah I don’t feel it at all!” “Taste like mint to me.” The trio of Damned began to circle the spot where moments before Mès and Aurora had sat before vanishing. “With a hint of cinnamon.” Melkor added. “Oooh you have some refined taste brother! I smell lemons with the mint.” “You two have no taste, a mint leaf is all you need.” The Three Damned looked at each other with bored expressions. “So.” “Yes.” “Quite” Then all three said at the same time. “Blink spell.” “Pretty well executed at that” Said the lemon Damned. “But why this much energy? Was he trying to reach the moon?” “No matter where he was trying to go, distance is irrelevant.” Melkor kneeled down, took some chalk from his belt and started to draw complicated symbols on the ground. “No matter where he ended up, we’ll follow. We just need time.” “Guess we will need backup to open a walkway. I’m gonna send a message to the Order.” The mint Damned walked to the exit, scribbling on a scroll. “Shall I tell our loyal dog handlers that they can call off the search?” Melkor paused in his ritualistic drawings. After a moment of amused silence three voices answered in the dark. “Naaaah!” With a sudden burst of blue flames the scroll was consumed, its ashes speeding away in the night. ---ΩΩΩ--- The library’s windows were still obscured by the magically sealed shutters, the rising sun barely making its way inside. The few rays of light were just enough to illuminate the chaos that reigned in the main hall: documents had been thrown on the ground, the shelves were in disarray, the book fort had collapsed.... The scene only aggravated Twilight’s foul mood, she didn’t need to be reminded of her mental breakdown; the memory of her behavior towards her friends was enough punishment. ”Is it really?” The unicorn turned to look at her guest. He was following her down the staircase, still covered in a white sheet fashioned into a toga. Furless, tall, standing on two legs and capable of speech, this truly was a strange creature. Usually Twilight would have been anxious to study the unknown being, she would have performed some harmless experiments and asked him a few hundred questions before sending a letter exposing her discoveries to her mentor, princess Celestia. But now... Not only had she performed a forbidden spell but she had done it on an intelligent creature, and to make it worse she tried to hide her deed making her into a criminal and not the victim of a magical mishap; maybe she had not been punished nearly enough. Twilight shook her head, trying to chase the thoughts away. Her efforts were in vain: the nightmare, the brutal awakening and the unexpected insult against her cleanliness --not to mention being mistaken for a foal-- had left her mind in a turmoil. As Mès reached the main hall, Twilight opened all the windows, letting light and fresh air rush inside. The man observed the display of magic with curious wonder, watching closely as the shutters were surrounded by the same aura he had seen on the purple unicorn’s horn. She noticed his interest, this was an occasion to ask him what he knew about magic, maybe he could explain why a healing spell had turned into a familiar binding spell. “Look, I’m sorry for kicking you, let’s start over, shall we?” Twilight extended a hoof. “My name is Twi...” “Twilight, yes I know.” Mès interrupted as he eyed the hoof with a raised eyebrow. “... Sparkle. How do you...” Before Twilight could finish her question the man interrupted yet again. “Strange name. Mine, is Mès, means child back in my home.” The man was oblivious to the unicorn’s growing frustration. ” Speaking of home, yours is very peculiar, must be weird to live in a tree, has to be crawling with bugs all the time.” She didn’t even have the time to show her indignation as he went on. “I remember the time when I found a black scorpion in my bed, but I guess you don’t have those here.” Mès eyed the ground thoughtfully, as if he expected to see one crawling over the books. Quickly losing interest he started to pace around the room. “Ever been to Egypt? Alexandria? It’s great there, well except for the Imperials, rotten like a month old apple the lot of them. That reminds me, I’m pretty hungry.” Mès started to sniff like a dog and headed straight for the library's kitchen, leaving an open mouthed Twilight behind. She had thought that Mès was either dense or rude, but now she knew: he was crazy. ”There is a lunatic hungry creature in my kitchen.” The thought sprang Twilight into action. She rushed after Mès, half expecting him to have tinkered with the oven, setting the room on fire. To her relief she found that Mès had just taken a seat at the table and was munching on an apple with gusto. “Now listen here you...” The angry words died in Twilight’s mouth. She wanted to lecture Mès for his rude behavior but she stopped when her eyes caught something: Mès’s teeth were clearly visible as he bit into a new apple, and a particular pair drew her attention. Canines. Whatever Mès was, his species was not exclusively herbivore. Furthermore his eyes were angled to face forward, while ponies, cows and other herbivores looked to the sides. This was telltale sign of a hunter’s morphology. The prospect of being a potential prey had not crossed Twilight’s mind, but as the predator sitting at her table devoured a third apple she realised in how much danger she was in. The smile Mès gave her in that instant didn’t comfort the unicorn: he could have been thinking about a succulent pony meal to go with his fruits after all. Taking care of moving slowly and carefully, Twilight sat in front of the potentially lethal creature. Books on lions and other predator advised to never run from one when cornered, now was not the time to test that theory, as tempting as it was. She looked upon her familiar: he seemed harmless enough as he was now, choking on a piece of his fourth apple, spurting juice and saliva everywhere... But looks could be deceiving. “Want some?” Totally oblivious to Twilight’s fears, Mès extended hand covered in juice across the table, offering the basket of fruits he was pillaging. “You do realise that those are mine, right?” Twilight sighed deeply. Her table companion had not shown any sign of aggressive behavior. Just a tendency to annoy her. She levitated the apple from his hand, magically removing the liquids covering it. But before she could take a bite into it Mès left his seat and was standing right next to her in an instant. Twilight froze. He could move faster than she had imagined. To her relief Mès didn’t pounce on her, instead he started to examine the floating apple, moving his hands under and over it, as if looking for a hidden wire. Finding none the man turned towards the unicorns horn, poking it with his fingers repeatedly. “Are you quite finished?” Twilight didn’t like the way her horn reacted to his touch, in more ways than one. “I thought that only egyptian mystics could use such powers. And you are even able to levitate objects! Such precise control over the energy flow...” Mès crossed his arms, as if looking at something incredible. “Well thanks, I think.” Twilight didn’t know if he was being serious or if he was mocking her. “You are an amazing child! For such a young horse, this is really impre...” Mès’s praise was cut short when the apple he had given Twilight was suddenly thrown against his face, exploding on impact. The man fell to the ground, only seeing stars and apple sauce. ---ΩΩΩ--- The apple to the head had the benefit of making Mès shuttin up and focus on Twilight. Once he had cleaned his face with his improvised clothing he returned to his seat and his eyes didn’t leave the unicorn, apparently ready to dodge any more projectiles. He listened intently when she explained that she was not, in fact, a young horse filly but and adult pony. When she learned that the man had never heard of ponies, Twilight was somewhat remorseful. Everything about the man’s behavior annoyed her, but it seemed that it was not by design, he was just naturally irritating. After the explanations an awkward silence descended upon the kitchen. As Mès remained mute and starring, Twilight decided to break the silence. “So you never heard of ponies, don’t know about unicorn magic and resemble nothing I’ve ever read about.” She scratched her chin and eyed the man scientifically. “Can you tell me where you are from exactly?” “I’m from Alexandria.” “... Is it a city?” “Yes.” “Sooo, where is it located?” “Egypt, I told you already.” “... Well WHERE is this Egypt?” “In the Empire.” “WHAT EMPIRE?” “The Roman Empire” “WHAT IS A ROMAN!!” “A miserable little pile of secrets. And lies. And wine. And honey. And...” Mès expertly dodged the second apple, the projectile breaking the window behind him. “Hey hey, if you break anything else you are going into trouble with our master when he comes home.” He said jokingly. “What are you talking about?!” Twilight huffed, another apple in her telekinetic grip, ready to fire. “Don’t worry though, I don’t plan on staying here too long, I have it all planned out for when he comes home.” “And what’s that?” “I’m going to kill him.” The apple fell to the floor. Twilight could not understand how a creature that seemed so joyful could speak of the demise of another living thing so easily. She reminded herself that this was a predator, like griffins and dragons. He would have a different way of thinking than herbivorous beings whose attitudes towards violence only extended as far as flinging pie at one another. “Don’t say such things...” Twilight was a little afraid but she had to clear this out. “I think you may have misunderstood the situation here, why don’t you explain to me what you mean by master?” “Well...” Mès looked a little puzzled. “I mean the one that this mark belongs to of course.” He showed his palm, Twilight’s cutie mark etched on it. “I guess I was branded while i was asleep, but until the one that this mark belongs to gives me his first order the Branding procedure won’t be completed. I am still free to do as I please: I’m not his slave yet so I can still hurt him. When he comes back I’ll kill him and free us both.” He concluded while pointing at Twilight’s flanks, where the same mark was visible. “It must be pretty terrible for you to obey him, am I right? And the bond is made for life, only death can break it. There is no other way.” “Oh...” Maybe he hadn’t misunderstood that much. The branding he described was very similar to the familiar spell, except for the ‘first order’ rule and the slave part. Twilight gulped, steeling herself. “So the reason you didn’t run away...” “I could not abandon you. We are brother and sister in binding, I just could not leave you.” “So you felt a bond towards me... Making you care for me?” “Yes. I... It’s a fraternity thing, I guess. It was a little weird but...” “You felt obliged to help me...” Twilight looked into Mès’s eyes, trying to make him understand. “You felt like you... had to serve... me?” “No, I... You... You?” Mès stared at the unicorn he had cared for all night, the creature he knew nothing about, yet had bonded with almost instantly, the mare that had his brand, etched on her flanks... The same mark... HER mark. “Mès? Are you...” Twilight never finished her phrase. It happened in an instant. Not one for great internal debates and careful pondering, the dangerous man sprang into action before the unicorn could even register his mouvement. In the blink of an eye he did the only thing he could conceive in that instant, only thinking of saving his freedom. This was the only way. Mès jumped like a tiger from his chair, almost flew over the table and in one powerful leap... And started running like never before. When Twilight’s brain processed this information Mès was already out of sight, having left the kitchen and bolting for the front door. Remembering her dream the unicorn panicked and shouted after him. “WAIT! DON’T GO!” She fell from her chair and galloped towards the main hall, fully prepared to find the front door open, the man running towards his doom. But instead she found Mès standing just inches away from the exit, his body frozen in the act of flight. He had heard her, and apparently was willing to give her a chance to explain. “I’m glad you stayed, I have to explain some things about the ways you are bound to me.” Mès didn’t respond, he just stood there in his uncomfortable pose. “Right... so the first thing you should know is that you can’t get too far from me, or you’ll be struck by magical lightning.” That did not stir the reaction she had expected. Instead Mès slowly righted his balanced, and even more carefully turned his head to face her. “Okay, you are listening, the second thing you... should...” Twilight stopped, confronted with the expression on his face. Long gone was the smile she had seen there. Mès’s colors had been drained away, his eyes were opened to the extreme and his jaw was tightly shut. He was clearly terrified of her. It took the unicorn a few painful heartbeats to understand why. In her moment of panic, Twilight had given Mès his first order, taking away his freedom and completing the Branding spell once and for all. The slave stared at his master, and the master gazed into her familiar’s eyes.