//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 
// Story: The Necromancer's Forces 
// by InTheNavy 
//------------------------------//

	Jay sat awake on the floor of the cell, both out of discomfort and out of the events taht had gone on less than an hour ago. The two beds that the cell contained were reserved for the wounded Bradley, and for Trixie, who slept silently not two metres from him. He turned to his friend, his cotton shirt rustling as he did so. He could see the slight glow of blue coming off of Bradley's side, reflecting off of the wall behind him.
Jay felt sorry for Bradley, but a big jelous; why had he gotten to come here first? He doesn't even appreciate what this place is! He stopped his train of thought, he knew that it wasn't Bradley's intentions to come here. He hadn't seen Jay in a few months, but he still considered him a close friend. Every time that Bradley was in town they, his group of friends, would have him over for the night, and they would stay up drinking and playing video games. Bradley sucked at both, as his career offered him no time to practice either of the two activities.
He peered down at the watch that he had taken from Bradley, he intended to return it when Bradley was back to normal. The time was close to six in the morning, but it didn't matter, there were no windows in the cell, and the only light, aside from Bradley's wound, came from a small torch in the hallway. He knew Bradley well enough that his 'internal clock' as he called it, would wake him up at six, and he would get a massive boost of energy from it. This was due to his body setting into a routine, and he would immediatley work out after waking up.
Jay stood up, peering around the cell, looking for a fault or weakness in the design or construction of the dungeon room. His mind raced, trying to find something that they could use before Bradley woke up. Jay intended to use Bradley's 'morning glory' to their advantage. He had recived a full explanation of their situation when he had arrived. Jay and Bradley had two things on their side; one was that there was now two of them, so they were twice as effective; and the other was that they were in a cell designed to hold a single pony, but it's architect would never have imagined the rigors of holding a pair of human captives. They were crafty, to say the least.
Jay jumped slightly as he heard a slight moaning coming from the cell, Bradley's numbing effects of sleep were beginning to wake him. He lifted himself slightly, and he rubbed his eyes as he sat upright. He peered across the cell, trying to discern who the new captive was. A few moments later the dazed expression left his face, it was replaced with an expression of shock.
“Jay!”
“In the flesh!” Jay yelled
“You fuckass! What are you doing here?”
“You tell me! When you tried to go home you pulled me here!”
“Well. Fuck, sorry man.”
“No problem, I like it here.”
“Wait until you see the outside.” he finished with a small chuckle. He cut his laugh short, reaching to his side. He peered at the wound, the glowing had gone down considerably, and with it the pain had diminished.
“I tried to find a way out, but the walls are smooth and the door is strong.”
“Did yo consider beating the fuck out of the gua-”
“Oh will you two shut up!” Trixie interrupted, she continued “I don't know what time you get up where you come from, but it's far too early!”
Satisfied that she had finished her rant, Jay continued, in a much softer tone. “Trixie says that the guards are friendly, they are just under some form of mental mindfuckery.”
“Okay, so I shouldn't kill them?”
“No... That's not a good idea.”
“Got it.” as if on que, somewhere in the distance a latch was heard, and the creaking of a door could be heard. Steps could be heard coming down the hallway.
“Jay!” whispered Bradley “get under the blanket. When they comes close, start screaming.” Jay immediatley followed Bradley's orders, hiding under the small cot's blanket as the guards drew near. The guards approached the cell, bringing with them some food for the prisoners. When the footsteps sounded to be directly on the other side of the door, Jay let out a bloodcurdling scream. Trixie screamed with him, as she had dozed off and did not hear Bradley's plan. Jay went silent for a moment to catch his breath, Bradley, standing in a position where the door would hide him when it swung open, wispered to Trixie.
“Call for help!”
Trixie went in uproar in a moment, screaming at the top of her lungs. It sounded as though Bradley had gone crazy and was attacking her. Through the screaming, the jingle of keys could be heard, and the latch on the door clicked as the terrified guards scrambeled to open the door. The door swung open as soon as they could manage, and they leaped into the room, drawing their weapons. They faced Jay, who was still concealed behind the blanket.
Before the pair of guards could say anything, they head the cell door behind them smash closed. They turned to see Jay, standing fully erect before them. He reached down and wrenched the guards' weapons from them. Even without weapon, the pair of guards attacked Bradley, but experiance had proven that they were no match for his physical advantage. He dismissed their attacks with his shin, bringing it up between them and him. Using this awkward pose to his advantage, he landed the steel toe of his boot cleanly on the the firsg guard's face.
The guard went down like a sack of hammers, felled by the single blow. Bradley turned his attention to the second guard, who was now backing into the corner of the cell. His behind came up against the wall, with the bed that Jay lay in immediatley next to him. Jay sat bolt upright, and scared the living daylights out of the gaurd. Bradley used this confusion to subdue the guard, tackling him to the floor. He wrapped his arm around the guard's neck, and held fast until the guard stopped struggling. Releasing him, he checked to make sure that the guard was still breathing, and he was.
“Good. Now how do we get out of the actual castle?”
“I have an idea” commented Trixie “while you were knocked out, the Necromancer came in here and tried to 'convert' you. But your partial immunity to magic prevented him from doing so. He told Twilight Sparkle that when you died, he would be able to convert you without error. He also muttered something about how he couldn't kill you or else you wouldn't pledge allegiance to him.”
“Convenient” commented Jay
“I have an idea.” commented Jay “what... Guys... Idea! What if I put wings... Guys! Wings, guys! What if I put wings, on my back legs!” Bradley burst out laughing, Trixie stared at the two of them like they were mad.
“It's an inside joke” *look in the author's note* “but here's a good idea. Why don't you put on one of those suits of armor and go yell that I've died in my sleep?”
“They will notice in an instant!”
“I don't think they will” commented Jay “they will just hear the message, it's too important for them to notice you.”
Bradley and Jay helped Trixie into the bulky suit of armor, adjusting and loosening some straps to hide as much of her brilliant blue coat as possible. She looked sheepishly at them as they inspected their work.
“Well, get on with it!”
Bradley opened the door and let her out, closing the door behind her. He motioned for Jay to hide under the bed and to stow the unconscious gaurds under the other. He got on top of the bed, covering himself in the blanket and sprawling across the bed. Jay laughed slightly as he heard Bradley make a rude remark on the occupants of the castle and their sense of hygene.
“Do you have a light?” asked Jay
“Yeah?”
“Put it uder the blanket with you, make it look like your wound is really glowing.”
“Damned clever idea, buddy!”
Bradley placed the light in one of the cargo pockets on his damaged vest, the mesh of the pocket holding the light in the right place. Soon, footsteps were heard down the hall, they were rushed. The door of the cell opened quickly, and two ponies stepped inside. Jay watched the hooves of those who had just entered, he was able to identify Trixie, who's blue hooves poked out from under her armor. The other pony give him no ideas, the purple hooves coming withing less than a metre of where he lay.
“We need to start the spell immediatley” came a soft, female voice.
The cell began to glow with a green tinge, as the pony chargedd the spell. Jay hit the bottom of the bed, an improvised signal for Bradley, the coiled serpent, to strike. He sat bolt upright, the purple mare before him recoiling slighly as he lifted himself.
“Morning, love!” He screamed. Fast as his muscles could go, he reached out and grabbed the glowing horn. His arm jolted as his flesh absorbed the magic, and the mare attempted to back away from the still fully alive Bradley, but his grip was strong on her horn.
Trixie leaned forward on her fron hooves, and struck the purple mare in the head with her back hooves, clipping Bradley's hand as she did so. The mare went down, only slowing slightly as Bradley held her up for a fraction of a second.
“What the fuck was that?” Bradley asked, an impressed expression plastered across his face.
“What happened” asked Jay, lifting himself up from under the bed.
“She roundhouse kicked the fucker!”
“Oh, that's Twilight Sparkle!” commented Jay, finally able to identify the pony who was now sprawled across the ground.
“So, aside from antagonizing the occupants, what is our plan now?”
“We have a hostage” cried Bradley, a smile crossing his lips
“A what?”
“Basically we use the threat of injuring her to get out of here.” explained Jay
“I'm sick of this dump, Jay?”
“After you!”
“Okay.” he lifted the sleeping purple mare from the ground, putting her on his shoulder, her head facing forward. He grabbed one of the discarded swords, and held it in his right hand, his left arm was wrapped around his 'passenger'.
“Let's a go!” he yelled, ripping open the door that had shut itself. Jay followed him, and Trixie followed timidly behind the moronic pair. She almost had to sprint to keep up with the pair, who booked it down the halls of the dungeon. Bradley came up against a large door, and he lifted one leg, barley slowing and kicked the door as hard as he could.
As the door bore no method aside from keeping itself closed, it flew open, revealing the great hall before the three. Everything that was astetic was removed from the walls, fires burned across the floor, and ponies worked at coal fired forges. The room's occupants turned to face the doors that had exploded open. Standing in the open door was Bradley, sword drawn, with Jay and Trixie standing off behind him.
“Alright, this is a stickup! If anyone so much as moves, I'm going to kill myself, and then I'll kill her.” as he said this he lifted Twilight's head to show everyone who she was. The room froze, nobody dared move. They might be under the Necromancer's control, but they are still unwilling to risk their friend's life.
Bradley moved down the hall, out the same doors that he had left several days earlier. As they approached the bulky doors, a voice was heard behind them.
“How dare you!” the voice was raspy and harsh “How dare you take my highest caster hostage! I will kill you, regardless of her.” Bradley turned to face the voice, and found himself staring at another human. This human was shorter than him, and he wore the skull of a deer to conceal his face. Red robes covered his body, primitive markings covering the cloth.
The Necromancer raised an object, and Bradley cried out in pain as his magical woud flared up. He fell to his knees, dropping Twilight as did so, the pain was too much. The Necromancer moved slowly forward, apprehensive of Jay, who was now standing behind Bradley, trying to help him up. Bradley waved off Jay, not wanting to risk his friend. Jay ignored this, and put himself under Bradley's arm to help him up.
“Ugh... The door. I have a plan, but the door has to be open.”
Jay understood. He released Bradley, who fell back to his knees, and he retreated to the door, and began to push on the large iron door. The Necromancer drew near, the drone of his monologue carrying on. Just a few more feet, so close. He quickly phased back in to the what the Necromancer was saying; something about his friends abandoning him.
Bradley turned around to see what his friends were doing, and he was pleased with what he saw. The door was open. Not only was it open, but there was a clear shot to the edge of the cliff. He knew from past experiance that a river ran beneath that cliff, but he didn't try it last time he fled from this castle.
He turned back to the Necromancer, who had gained some ground while Bradley had been turned. He was close enough, any longer and he risked being incapacitated by the magical disturbance that burned his flesh. Screaming, Bradley stood and whipped the sword that had been in his hand. The heavy projectile made solid contact with the Necromancer's mask.
Bradley felt relieved as the pain in his side stopped, and before turning to run he saw the Necromancer go down, clutching his face, shards of bone from the mask flying every which way. He threw twilight over his shoulder and sprinted out the door, yelling at Jay to carry Trixie as he did so. The pair of humans covered the distance to the cliff in mere seconds, feet pounding the ground as they ran. Guards on the walls began to fire bolts at them, but the combination of distance and speed meant that the shots were too far away to care about.
Coming to the edge of teh cliff, Bradley jumped, sailing off the edge. Jay stopped for a moment at the edge, and once he had seen that there was a 'safety net' at the bottom, he followed. As he did this, Trixie screamed at him to put her down, she would rather face the Necromancer and return to the cell, but it was too late. Bradley hit the water first, with the still unconscious twilight colliding with the water soon after. Jay and Trixie followed, both of them screaming, both for different reasons.
Jay crawled to the shore, laying next to Bradley, panting.
“Remember when we jumped off the bridge at my cottage?” reminised Bradley
“Yeah, it was twice as high as that shitty jump.” The two friends chuckled.
“Wait. Where's princess?” Jay looked around
“Oh, fuck! The armor!” Bradley jumped in the river, his head disappearing beneath the water. Moments later he surfaced again, with a coughing Trixie on his shoulder. He carried her to the shore, and pulled off the plate that covered her back and started tapping her back as she coughed up water.
“Sorry about that.” Jay commented, not knowing what to really say.
“You're an ass.” Trixie sputtered between coughs. “I would much prefer that cell to this!”
“Well you can go back, they're just up that hundred metre cliff!”
Jay looked skywards, seeing the row of skeletal guards on the ramparts of the cliff.
“She doesn't mean it Jay, she's just pissy that she got her ass wet.” he laughed at his own joke as he said so. Trixie gave him her best look of discontent, but her soaked coat just made her look silly. This earned her another belt of laughter from Bradley.
“Well.” Bradley commented, lifting the sleeping Twilight onto his shoulder “Where to now?”