Chapter seven
Midnight raid
"Zulf, look!" Tama shouted in excitement. His outbursk would've made any of the Ura marching along with him believe he had found a way home. Instead he found something just a good, because in between his gloved thumb and forefinger he spun a green blade of grass. "Finally the snow is lessening!"
Zulf unraveled the scarf around his mouth due to the warming weather, though everyone's breath could still be seen "Quite a blessing indeed. I don't think we could take another day in such weather without proper supplies." Even if their people were accustomed to the snow of their homeland, they didn't have the supplies needed to survive such weather. So it came to no surprise that the first sight of grass had lifted morale. While there were still patches of snow dotting the ground, the land head of them began to turn into rolling hills of grass and clear blue skies. The addition of not needing to wade through waist-high snow banks was nice as well. "Perhaps Discord could finally help us," he added after taking in the view.
To help his people trust him more, he had begun to speak in the Ura tongue rather than common. Albeit a bit rusty from all those years in Caelondia, he was happy at the immediate effect it took.
"Discord! Where do we go from here?" He looked to the sky for his strange guide, expecting him to appear out of thin air like he normally does.
"You called?" Discord spoke with a chuckle while resting on the branch of a nearby tree. While the Ura have seen him several times, his sudden appearance still startled several of them. "Honestly I don't know why you continue to use that language of yours. I can understand you quite clearly." He snapped his fingers and an apple appeared in his palm, which he proceeded to eat.
Zulf frowned. "They cannot understand you and I refuse to speak the same way." He glanced at the ones Discord had startled. "After what I have done, they at least have the right to know every word they hear."
"Oh right, your little 'downfall'," Discord said with air quotes. "I have to give props to that Kid. He sure knows how to fight." He spoke between bites of apple. When he finished the apple and found himself left with the core, he tossed it behind the tree.
"I know what happened, Discord. Now which way from here?" Zulf grated out in repressed anger. Something about his carefree attitude rubbed him the wrong way, and the thought of spearing Discord with his weapon crossed his mind. However, he felt such an action would only give Discord a good laugh. Which is something he quickly learned he enjoyed doing. "Also, if we are to continue, we're going to need food. Could you summon some more apples for us?"
"I could," Discord picked at one of his claws before continuing. "But where's the fun in that? How about you go visit that town over to the east." Discord said while pointing a thumb that way. "You want food? You need to cause a little chaos for me. Ta ta!" With that said, he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Zulf closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. The further he helped Discord, the more he began to hate it. But what choice did he have besides telling his people they were stuck here; something they probably wouldn't enjoy hearing from him. How did he know Discord would even keep his promise anyway? Letting out a deep sigh, he looked for his friend for advice. "Tama."
"Hm?" Tama hummed after lifting his head. He had been taking a short rest on the soft grass until Zulf called him. "What is it?"
"You know our warriors better than me. Who of us know the art of stealth?"
Tama stood up and and brushed stray blades of grass off his clothes. "Without a doubt I'd choose Zondra and Sterg. Zondra helped us sneak towards the stone wall when we arrived, and Sterg, from what I hear, can sneak past an anklegator back home." He raised an eyebrow. "Why? You have something planned?"
Zulf nodded and noticed the people nearby resting in the grass had their own looks of confusion to what he was planning. "We need food. From what Discord said, there's a settlement to the east. Get Zondra and Sterg and meet me on that hill." He pointed towards a tall hill leading to the east.
"Of course, Zulf. What of the others though? It wont be hard to spot such a large group in these hills. These ponies Discord warned us about might have patrols."
Zulf thought for a moment while looking at his surroundings. Everywhere around them consisted of hills and grass except to the south where the tops of trees could be seen. "Have everyone move to those trees to the south. With luck, they'll be dense enough for us to hide in without being spotted." Tama only tilted his head forward in a small bow before departing.
While Tama ordered his people towards the forest, Zulf made his way up the steep hill. As he reached the crest, he saw the village Discord mentioned about a mile away. It didn't look like anything spectacular from where he stood, but most of it was blocked by the hills. He'd have to get closer to make a better estimate to what they would be dealing with. With the elevated view, he could also clearly see the sunset; maybe another hour or two until night; assuming time acted the same with his own world.
You may like chaos, Discord, but I wont become a part of it. Zulf thought with his arms crossed. Most likely Discord expected him to raid the village in full force, but Zulf didn't like the idea of getting into another conflict with these ponies. Discord said the ponies were not to be trusted, but after what he saw at the Equestria's border made him question that warning. With the power Discord showed off, why couldn't he simply transport them to their target? Or Kid to them? Why wasn't he helping them with surviving this new world? The answer came easily to Zulf, and he didn't like it: Discord was toying with them.
"Hello Zulf." Zulf turned his head to see Zondra and Sterg a few steps behind him. Zondra wore primarily green and had a rifle on her back while Sterg's had blue for his primary color. A halberd as long as Zulf's rested on his back. While Zondra had a lithe form resembling a cat, Sterg had a more muscular and thick frame. How Sterg could sneak past an anklegator, Zulf would never know. "Tama here tells us you wish to speak with us."
Zulf fully turned his body around to properly greet them. "Hello as well, Zondra. Yes I had called the both of you on a mission. As you've no doubt noticed, we're running out of food. We've had to ration our supplies to mere one meal a day, and even then it's only water, crackers, and tough jerky. We didn't have much food to begin with when Discord brought us here, but now our supplies are down to some of us skipping meals. The plan is to resupply in the village to the east. You're both here because of Tama's recommendations in stealth."
"I don't have any problem with stealing, but four of us wont do it," Zondra spoke with a thoughtful look. He gaze drifted to the village. "We'll need more people. Maybe have another team to double our bounty? Right now, even with the each of us carrying heavy loads worth of food, it would last our group several days. And we have no idea how long until we reach our destination."
"Being spotted is worse," Zulf argued after a shake of his head. "You'll double the bounty, but double the chance of being caught. And I'd rather rather avoid killing any more of these ponies."
"Only if they get in the way," Sterg commented. Zulf frowned, but reluctantly nodded his head in agreement.
"How about this? We have a larger group at the outskirts to deliver the food the rest of the way. With it being split among more people, they can travel faster. Doesn't make it easier to be spotted, and we can begin another round of looting sooner." One by one each of them nodded their heads in agreement to that idea. "Great. If there's nothing else, let's head back to camp and find more volunteers. We'll meet back here at midnight."
"Everyone set? Wait, where's Tama?" Zulf asked; his voice a bit muffled from the thick dark cloth around his face. They had taken their brighter cloth layers off and either stayed or switched to darker hues to blend in with the night. Everyone was at the hill except Tama. Though several seconds later, the sound of heavy footfalls reached the group.
"Sorry I'm late. Can you believe they didn't have dark biege?" Tama explained while catching his breath. In Ura society, the color and style of your clothing represented things such as wealth and fame. In the military it also showed rank.
"Nice outfit," Zondra commented while admiring Tama's choice of dark brown and blue. "When did you decide to become a farmer? Just cant handle the life of a captain, eh?" Her grin only widened when Tama gave a half-hearted laugh. Sterg grunted loudly, earning their attention.
"You both can play dress up and braid each others hair later. Right now we got a village to raid."
They each nodded their heads and moved as one down the hill. When they reached the bottom they broke out into a sprint towards the village. What little light the moon gave barely revealed the four fast-moving figures closing in on the unsuspecting town. When they reached the outskirts, they took cover behind a large rock nearby. Now with a closer look, they began to discover how big the village really was. However, there were two thing missing that made the mission that much easier.
Tama peeked above the rock. "No walls or guards anywhere in sight. Is this place really this carefree from danger?"
Zulf joined Tama. "I wouldn't know, but nevertheless keep your eyes and ears open for anything," he whispered before bolting across the small clearing towards the nearest building. All of the buildings were made from wood and thatch roofing, with colorful paint schemes on the walls that arrayed in every bright color he could imagine.
Peeking inside the nearby window he chose, he found it lead straight to the kitchen. He pulled out his halberd and used the flat blade in an attempt to lever open the window. To his surprise, after a bit of wiggling, it slid open with ease. Unfortunately he had to leave his weapon behind since it would be unwieldy in such a tight space. "Tama and Sterg watch outside. We'll send the bags through the window." Zulf climbed through shortly after saying that. With Zondra following after.
Zulf got to work going straight for the icebox. Inside he found some fruit, mostly apples, vegetables, and cheeses, which were deftly tossed in the burlap sack he had set on the floor. He wasn't surprised about the lack of meat considering what the normal diet of a pony was. To make up for the lack of protien, he grabbed a tin of peanut he found in one of the cabinets.
"Wow, whoever lives here sure loves pickles," Zondra whispered while four jars of pickles disappear in her bag. However, when she shifted it to move to the next cabinet, the jars clanked loudly together; causing them both to tense up.
Zulf stared at the only door in the kitchen and strained his ears to hear if anyone was coming. He wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but if the pony did hear it, they would've been here to investigate by now. "Either find some way to cover those jars or put them back," he whispered harshly to Zondra while tossing a bundle of bananas he found in a basket beside the fridge.
Zondra frowned and put the jars back. "Right... no glass."
They continued for several more seconds before tying off both bags and handing them to Sterg outside. When everyone was outside, Zulf closed the window behind him.
"Not bad for our first haul. Let's get the next building then meet up with the others."
Zulf lead the way once more to the next building: another two-story home. Thanks to how the town was built, they could easily sneak behind and raid the buildings on the outskirts of the town without worry of being caught. Zulf peered into the only window in the backyard. It lead into a living room with two couches and a coffee table. To the far left sat a bookshelf stuffed full of literature; beside it a fireplace with still glowing embers. And beside that a white doorway leading into a hallway.
Not seeing anyone inside, he repeated what he did to the first window and hefted himself inside. The floor squeaked from his weight, but thanks to the soft carpet he didn't make any noise from his boots hitting floor. The room had another door straight head with light shining underneath that he hadn't noticed while standing outside. He considered moving on to another home, but the lack of sound coming from the room dismissed the idea. It was possible a pony could have accidentally left the light on.
As he took several steps towards the door across the room, he heard footfalls on the carpet behind him from Zondra's entry. He tried to peek under the door, but he could only see laminated tiling. He had several idea as to approach this. If there wasn't a pony in there, he would get a chuckle at how cautious he had been over a left-on light. However, if there was a pony in there going for a late-night snack, he'd have to somehow knock it unconscious. Lucky for Zulf, there happened to be a very heavy looking bust of a pony in the corner of the room to his right.
"Alright, if there's a pony in there, I bash it in the head with this thing," Zulf explained while hefting the bust. "Hopefully the noise wont attract too much attention. Ready?"
Zondra shrugged. "I've been a part of crazier plans, but don't worry. I'll be right behind you."
Happy with that answer, Zulf laid his hand on the door and took one final exhale. With a deep breath, he pushed open the door and lifted the bust over his head threateningly; aiming to smash it over anything that looked close to a pony. But what he saw in the room stopped him in his tracks. A loud pop entered his ears when he went through the door, followed by the sound of cards falling on the floor. Three of the four ponies in the room that were playing cards stared with jaws agape at him. The fourth continued to play; not knowing what was behind him.
"-so then I say... I say, that's why you never use peanut butter to... Hey, what's wrong you guys? Is Flare back from his nap?" The pony turned around with a smile to see what they were all staring at, but quickly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end when he slowly tilted his head up. A moment of silence settled in the room as both sides weren't sure how to respond. Zulf took note of the gold armor all four of them wore, and the helmets laying on the table. Their surprised state didn't last long as they sprang into action to surround the intruder. Sensing that things were quickly going south, Zulf chucked the bust at the nearest pony; knocking him out cold.
"Zondra, run!" Zulf dodged to the side and bolted out the door after one of the ponies tried to tackle him to the ground. He heard several shouts for him to stop by order of the royal guard, which only made him realize how much he screwed up. Zondra managed to reach the open window and lunge out like an arrow. But when Zulf got close, the window slammed shut with a strange purple glow surrounding it. Whipping around his body, he found one of the ponies had a horn, which gave off the same color glow.
"By order of the royal guard you will come quietly!" the pony with the horn yelled while the other two guards closed in on him.
"Yeah... not going to happen." Zulf glanced at the other doorway to the left. He'd have to lunge over one of the couches to reach it, but he might be able to make it before they caught him. Taking the chance, Zulf went into a sprint towards the couch and jumped over it. However, he quickly realized how bad of a decision that was when a pony tackled him mid-air. They both fell on top of the wood coffee table, with Zulf landing back-first; knocking the air out of his lungs. He gasped for air before putting a elbow directly to the pony's face, stunning it long enough for him to stumble away. The sound of the two other pony's hooves not far behind.
Zulf found himself in a long hallway with a stairway leading up to the second story. Far down the hallway stood freedom: the front door. As he ran for the door, he lost his balance when one of the ponies behind him jumped on his back. The sudden weight change caused him to lose balance and slam into the front door; causing the entire wall to shudder from the impact. Zulf growled in mixed annoyance and anger as he smashed the pony on his back against the door, intending to be rid of him. The pony grunted in pain, but refused to get off.
"For Celestia!" the last pony shouted as it charged Zulf, tackling him directly in the chest. However, what they all failed to notice from their tussle were the cracks that began to form around the door from their tussle. When the group hit as one, the entire door snapped from the wall; sending the entire group outside into the street.
"What in blazes is going on?" A voice shouted. Zulf groaned in pain, but managed to lift his head to see several ponies out in the streets; all of them staring at him. "Up both of you! restrain that thing!" He felt something cold and metallic wrap around his wrists with a click. He was then left on the ground unable to free his hands, while the other two guards were helped up. "Come on now. I don't like repeating myself!"
"S-Sir," the pony who had tackled him out the door spoke up. "We found this creature breaking into this house, so we decided to investigate... Sir." Zulf twisted his head to see who he was talking to. Standing no more than five feet away was a pony dressed in blue pajamas and matching blue teddy bear slippers. The tired looking pony rubbed his muzzle.
"I'll let you off the hook from your card playing today only because you actually caught some... thing." He gave a flat look when the guard's mouth went agape; wondering how he knew. "Don't give me that look. Why else is Gale Chaser with you when he's supposed to be patrolling the other side of the town." He pointed towards the building where the pegasus who had tackled Zulf onto the coffee table was stumbling out of the front door.
"Reporting for doody, sir!" The pegasus promptly fell on his face, unconscious. The officer muttered something about pegasai not being as durable as earth ponies before eyeing Zulf.
"I don't know what you are, but you chose the wrong night to come here." He left Zulf's view, leaving only his slippers to stare at. "Lock it up in a cell until tomorrow. I'm going back to bed."
"Sir!" The two ponies nearest Zulf saluted until the officer left view. They then grabbed him by the arms to drag down the street.
Zulf silently hoped his comrades had made it out safely.