Chapter 13
Cadence glared intently at the Blood Knight that sat chained across from her. Though he seemed to be compliant with his capture, not wanting his friend hurt, he was still being slightly rebellious. For instance, this was the twelfth time his manacles had fallen off, clicking free from his arms as if the key had unlocked them. Every time they did this the princess and Blood Knight would look down at the manacles, then back up to each other. Dizastrous would smile impishly and shrug as if he had nothing to do with it.
Now however instead of paying any attention to the manacles before they were replaced on his wrists, he reached for the amulet around his neck and took it off, examining it as the manacles were levitated up and put back on.
Cadence furrowed her brow as Dizastrous suddenly seemed engrossed with the amulet, his eyes then took on a thousand yard stare as he peered at it. Cadence was about to speak up and ask him if anything was wrong but then he did something that sent a jolt of panic down her spine, causing her coat to stand on end. He smiled triumphantly and turned his gaze up to her.
"Wha-what are you doing?" Cadence asked suddenly alert as the Blood Elf stood up from his seat, back slightly hunched from the chain that was fixated to the ground and connected to the manacles around his wrist.
The only response Dizastrous gave her was for him to grit his teeth as he strained his muscles, the sound of screeching metal filling the air, causing the posted guards and the princess of love to cover their ears and grit their teeth.
Cadence looked up and cried out as she saw the chain torn free from the ground. The manacles then popped once more off Dizastrous's wrists and the Blood Knight grabbed the chain and began to spin it like a flail and crack it against the guards that were now rushing to stop him. Cadence's horn ignited with power as she prepared to subdue the Blood Knight just as he turned his attention away from the last of the guards and on to her. The chain arcing towards her head as she fired her shot.
Celestia frowned as she looked down at the Warlock before her. This was the one who was called Helix, who had spent time in Ponyville with her student Twilight Sparkle. Helix had befriended the young mare, and deceived her into telling him about Equestria. Celestia suspected that Helix had the same powers Weaver had, and thus treated his cell to be resistant to fire. Confident that he was well restrained by magically tempered iron chains that would resist even the hottest of flames, Celestia approached him.
"Are you willing to answer my questions? Or am I going to have to pry into your mind?" Celestia said in a stern voice as she towered over the bruised and burned elf.
"I don't particularly like your tone... Twilight said you were nicer than this, or do you just usually put on an innocent act for your subjects?" Helix said, lifting his eyes towards the princess of the sun.
Celestia frowned at this, and opened her mouth to speak before being cut off.
"How strict is your imprisonment policy? Because I could really use some water right now..." Helix said letting out a dry, raspy cough.
Celestia looked behind her to where the guard was posted and nodded to him, signalling for the guard to fetch some water for the warlock. Turning her attention back to the elf she grimaced as she looked over the burns that cracked his skin in places.
"What happened to you? My guards swore they did not do it, but if they did I apologize for the severity of your wounds." Celestia said shaking her head.
Helix cast his eyes down upon himself and his body began to jerk spastically. Celestia in a startled attempt to see what was wrong soon noticed the warlock was actually laughing, but the lack of moisture in his throat caused the sound to come out as raspy squeaks.
The sound of the cell gate opening once more drew Celestia's attention toward the guard who held a bucket of water with a ladle. Celestia stepped aside and allowed the guard to slowly spoon the water into Helix's mouth with the ladle. After a few minutes of this the elf had drunk the entire bucket and let out a refreshed sigh. Celestia gave a start when she noticed his wounds seeming to slowly knit together. The progress was slow, but it was clearly there.
"What is going on, how are you healing so fast?" Celestia demanded.
"Thank you for the drink, when I get refreshed my mana pool gets refreshed. With my mana back I can focus some of it into regenerating. And I don't intend on dumping away all of my magic this time." Helix said, adjusting himself on the ground to sit more comfortably.
"What kind of world do you live in if your kind has evolved in such a way?" Celestia asked in a grave tone.
"Not just my kind, all the races have adapted to do it, without it they would have gone extinct, and many have even with this trait." Helix shrugged.
Celestia gave a worried look to the guard who was visibly shaken by the sight of the charred and cracked flesh slowly turning back to its original peachy color as the cracks mended and the puss ceased flowing. The guard looked as if he was prepared to vomit, and Celestia could not have blamed him if he had.
"Shall we uh, begin the questioning?" Celestia asked trying to avert her eyes from the grotesque way the skin moved on its own. The wound had been bad enough just to look at, but when it moved as if it was alive itself it sent Celestia's stomach twirling.
"Well, I suppose you were hospitable enough to allow me a drink... That alone makes this my best imprisonment ever." Helix said with a shrug.
"You have been imprisoned before?" Celestia said raising an eyebrow.
"A large portion of my race was, by the very people we once called allies no less." Helix said, spitting at the memory.
Celestia remembered that story from Weaver, but she pressed on to the question that was really on her mind, "I know of your goal for being here, but why do you go to such extents just to remove such a minor blemish. From what I heard from Weaver your source of magic is stable once more."
"Sure we have a stable source, but it is in one place, we have to make a pilgrimage just to sate our magical thirst. If we can find a permanent cure for the addiction, something to cleanse the fel taint from our blood, then we can expand and live in new places without being feared and hated just because we need to drain the magic from others." Helix said locking eyes with Celestia.
Celestia furrowed her brow in thought, and decided to take a look at things from the elf's point of view. Descending her head and touching the warlock's forehead with her horn, Celestia began to delve into his memories and thoughts.
Images of bloodshed were everywhere. It was as if the past decade of the elf's life was one constant fight after another. A memory that stood out from the rest caught Celestia's attention. Where some of the other's were simply blurs that sped by, this one was recently touched on and thought about. Celestia focused her mind and found herself standing among a large group of bipedal beings much similar to Helix and Weaver. Celestia quickly counted that roughly twenty five of them were present. A few of them were having their wounds treated, and more than a few looked as if they were already dead. It was clear that this was a war party of different races, all of them brandishing imposing weapons.
Celestia immediately saw and picked out Helix, standing over the corpse of a large and strange creature. It looked similar to a few of the other members of the war party, but its skin was pale sickly blue, as if it had been frozen for a long time. Three others besides Helix were standing around the corpse, all of them were Blood Elves, and they appeared to be siphoning off the last traces of magic from their foe. Murmers of disgust were beginning to spread through a few of the members, and it seemed only those dressed in black plate armor, and the ones who looked like they should be in a grave seemed to not care.
The chatter stopped when a new face pushed through the crowd. He looked shockingly similar to the deceased creature the elves were siphoning off of, but his skin was wrinkled with age, and long white hair fell around his shoulders. The Blood Elves abruptly stopped and backed away from the corpse and cast their eyes towards the ground as if they were ashamed.
"While I appreciate that you have helped me retrieve the corpse of my son, I will ask that you keep your mana grubbing mitts off of him." The elderly creature spat as he knelt before the corpse and let out a heavy sigh as he placed a gauntleted hand upon the chest of his son.
"You will have a proper ceremony in Nagrand... Next to the pyre of your mother, and ancestors." The old one then put his arms under the neck and back legs of the corpse and lifted his son's body into his arms as he turned back towards the airship.
The great double doors then opened and a few of the war party members began to press onwards, the Blood Elves still held an ashamed look as many muttered disapprovingly while passing them. Celestia noticed Helix have a hand put on his shoulder by one of the other elves who was wearing a robe with metal plates woven into it, behind that one Weaver was shaking her head and frowning.
Celestia withdrew her horn with a thoughtful look on her face. Though she did not have many of her questions answered, she did get a base understanding of the motives the elves had for wanting to be purified. Celestia then jumped back noticing a glow coming from Helix's hands.
"It's useless, those chains cannot be melted by your fire." Celestia said, keeping her guard up incase the warlock decided to attack her.
A small green stone floated before the warlock and then drifted into his pocket. A wave of green light washed over him and immediately the last of Helix's wounds sealed, leaving undamaged flesh where the burns once were. The Blood Elf gave a sigh of pleasure as the pain completely vanished from himself.
"What was that?" Celestia asked in a serious tone.
"That, is a stone that I can make and give to others to heal them if they need an urgent heal." Helix said as he examined his skin to make sure he was at tip top shape.
Celestia was surprised to hear this, "I was under the understanding that warlocks could not use magics that could benefit others."
"Well, we can bolster the strength of our allies as well, however these do come with a significant cost that one such as you might not approve of..." Helix said with a small smirk.
"Oh?" Celestia asked cocking her head slightly to the side.
"They are made of the souls of those I have slain." Helix said with a smile.
Celestia's face dropped visibly at this, and she immediately turned to leave, not wanting to spend anymore time with the warlock. As she left she could hear his mocking laughter echoing through the dungeons. Upon reaching the open sky at the courtyard, she was approached by a couple of her royal guards.
"Your highness, Cadence has arrived with one of the elves." The guard said with a salute.
The princess of love approached Celestia with a tired smile and nodded, the gesture was returned and then Celestia took note of the tall metal clad elf whose armor let off golden light. Had Celestia not known better she would have almost imagined him something divine. But the fierce scowl on his face dashed any notion of his purity.
Celestia looked back at cadence and gasped as she noticed upon further inspection that there was a welt forming along the side of her face, "Cadence what happened?"
"Big guy here broke loose and attacked me. Took a couple dozen guards and me to subdue him again. And he didn't even have his weapon." Cadence sighed rubbing her sore face.
"Where is his weapon? I was a little interested in observing some more of their equipment. The enchantments we found on the weapons of the one we have in the dungeon were fascinating." Celestia asked curiously.
"Back at the crystal empire, we thought it best to keep it as far away from him as possible. His magic seemed to be channeled through it after all." Cadence said shaking her head at the thought.
Celestia motioned for a few guards to take the Blood Knight into the dungeons, and as the elf was led off, Celestia beckoned for Cadence to follow.
"Cadence, I want to thank you for stopping this one from taking the crystal heart. I dare not imagine what would have befallen the crystal ponies had the heart been stolen away to their far off land..." Celestia said as she walked with Cadence.
The pink alicorn blushed slightly and waved it off with a hoof.
"No, really. I hate to have you personally come to help watch over them as well, but you know they are very dangerous. If it came to the worst possible scenario and they were able to band together, I don't know if my sister and I alone could fight them." Celestia said, thankful to have the princess of love aiding her in watching over the dangerous prisoners she now held in her dungeon.
"I have a question though..." Cadence said with a slightly concerned tone.
"Yes" Celestia asked stopping and looking at Cadence.
"Do we know where the last one is?" Cadence asked with a frown.
"Unfortunately no, Weaver did not show up where she told my sister she would. We assume she is planning on freeing her comrades however." Celestia said shaking her head.
A guard galloped up to Celestia with an urgent look on his face, "Highness get away from her!"
Celestia gave a confused look to the guard and then turned her attention back to where Cadence was, and noticed that the pink alicorn no longer stood beside her. Celestia blinked a few times in surprise, and then gasped in realization.
"We found princess Cadenza unconscious in the train. She was stuffed into a luggage compartment, she is alive but it will be a while before she is awake." The guard reported.
Celestia gravely looked around hoping to catch sight of the changeling queen, but it was a futile attempt. Celestia's eyes widened urgently as she turned her attention in the direction of where the dungeon was.
Celestia hurried off and galloped down into the depths of the dungeon. Celestia passed several downed guards on her way into the deepest part of the dungeon where she kept Helix. As the princess of the sun skidded across the stone floor in front of the cell the elf was kept in she looked around with panicked eyes.
Sitting before her still chained to the wall was the warlock Helix holding a bemused look on his face. Celestia noticed the guard was missing, but there was no sight of the Blood Knight.
"Everything alright?" Helix asked as he fought back a smug grin.
"Where is he?" Celestia asked in a commanding tone.
"Changing, he has some weird obsession with matching his armor with his weapons. He was complaining that since he left his other sword where he was caught, that he needed to use a different set of armor with his current sword." Helix answered.
"How is he changing? He only had a few pouches on his belt!" Celestia said in a frustrated tone, thinking that a cruel joke was being pulled on her as she cast her eyes around warily.
"Magical pouches, can hold mountains of items. I swear he carries about three armor sets and twelve weapons at all time..." Helix said shaking his head and laughing.
The sound of a large metal boot hitting the stone floor resounded off the stone walls. Celestia peered into the darkness that was the depths of the dungeon. She had not noticed it before, her focus on this particular cell, but the lights further down had been extinguished. The sound of the metal footsteps came closer, and rose in volume. Celestia strained her eyes against the darkness to see the glow of the Blood Knight's green eyes, or the golden light given off by his armor. The sound rounded the corner, and he should be in view, but all Celestia could see was the darkness.
"I would recommend running Celestia, if you want my honest opinion." Helix said following her gaze into the darkness.
"Why, surely he does not think he can take me alone..." Celestia said lowering herself into a ready stance.
"I suspect I know what armor he is using, and he always gets carried away in that one... Now, I'm just trying to return a favor, you were a very nice captor." Helix said as he slowly rose from his sitting position.
Celestia had no eyes for the warlock however, a dark silhouette had come into view and was slowly approaching her. In just a few more steps it would come into the light and she could get a better view of him.
As The elf strode into the light Celestia saw he was in a tarnished silver suit of armor that was decorated with faded bronze. A depiction of an angel's face dominated the chestplate, a pair of demonic bat wings splayed out beside it. The legs were decorated with angelic wings and his greaves bore images of angel's faces. His gauntlets bore vicious looking skulls and angel wings, the pauldrons he wore were mismatched, the one on his right shoulder had an angel's face, with feathers of aged bronze splayed out from the edge of the shoulder plate. The other pauldron had a wickedly grinning skull with a batlike demonic wing protruding from the skull, the edges of the shoulder plate were spiked with vicious curving barbs. The entire display was brought together with with a dark blue hood that was draped low over his face, covering a plate helmet and drooping down past his eyes, aged bronze wings were emblazoned on either side of the hood, and on his right side a curved horn protruded, and behind his head a broken halo sat.
The entire display was intimidating, the imagery of both good and evil symbols being tied together told of the Blood Knight's view on life and sanctity. Celestia was beginning to feel unnerved as she looked into the shadowed face from within the helmet. Only the mouth and chin were visible, the eyes shadowed and covered. He reached over his shoulder and pulled a long thick sword off his back. The blade was wickedly jagged, instead of straight and smooth like most. The sword looked as if it would rip and tear as much as it would cut. Glowing runes were emblazoned down the face of the blade, and a strange insignia sat on its hilt.
"Band'or shorel'aran..." Dizastrous said as a wicked grin adorned his face.