Fenrir rode on through the pouring rain, his dark black mount snorting angrily and nearly out of breath as he tracked the flying carriage through the air, his hood, now soaked through (like the rest of his clothes), drawn over his face.
He was undetectable against the dark and gloomy day that had ensued since he set out, a dark determination bubbling away inside of him, imitating the morbid storm clouds above.
Lightning struck against the ground nearby as he and his mount dashed past it, not even flinching as it nearly blinded him; it gave an eerie glow to his face, as the shadows cast a malicious shadow.
‘Soon, robot, you and your companions shall die, I’ll get my gold and no one will know any better. Anyway, it’ll be registered as a ‘system shutdown’...’ He chuckled to himself, his voice low and scratchy.
‘Soon...’
4 Hours later, At Baltimare, the city of the Sea...
I jumped out the cart and stretched some odd kinks out of my back as the others moaned, and held onto the hand rails nearby as they tried to hold in their stomach’s contents; it had been a bumpy landing, and the cart (as it began to take off again) dropped our contents gently onto the floor, its ‘deliver and return’ acting on its own accord.
“Well...” Trixie stumbled over, holding onto my structurally intact plating for a support “That was different”.
I chuckled, and straightened her light blue and mercury silver hair out as she breathed out a sigh of relief, her amethyst eyes closing as she gave in to the caring treatment.
After I finished, the others (that’s Hammerfist, Octavia and Vinyl. Just in case you forgot) got together the gear, and made sure it was strapped to the back of Hammerfist; being a Minotaur, he could easily carry all the stuff we brought with us. Hell, he could probably move a building if he wanted to.
“Alright, where next?” The horned warrior inquired, shrugging his shoulders as he adjusted to the weight of our equipment.
“Well” Octavia began, as Vinyl yawned and took in the environment “we need to get a ship to the Griffin Lands, a good one too; the storms out on the Golden Sea are treacherous, and could easily rip apart any wooden sea craft. We’ll need a Steam Powered Latch Boat. Anything like the carriage we came here in would also be destroyed.” She nodded, and pulled out a map before she handed it to Vinyl who went through it.
“Alright everybody, we’re on the north side of the city; I’ve been on tour here before, so we’ll need to get a ship from the southern ports. That’ll take us through the Bazaar, so we’ll need to keep an eye on our equipment, make sure none of it gets stolen. Then, we go simply get to the port through the southern exit of the bazaar and BLAMO!” She grinned, giving us a thumbs up “We get ourselves a ship, deliver this treaty thingy and then get home before Hearth’s Warming!”
Octavia giggled, and covered her mouth as she shook her head; it was one of the antics that she liked about Vinyl. No one else could pique her sense of humour in such a random and wild way.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Hammerfist bellowed a laugh, and then jogged off towards the bazaar, us in tow.
Three hours later, The Grand Bazaar...
We walked through the busy, bustling bazaar and kept an eye out for any cutpurses and thieves as we traversed its packed market streets. All around us, merchants sold their wares; from spices to trinkets, the Baltimare Bazaar had it all. Anything went here, and the range of merchants (from the shadiest of scum to the finely clothed) was beyond that of the average human sight. Civilians, blacksmiths, couriers and more weaved their way around the city, all with a certain set determination in their eyes and either a scroll, coin purse or any other of the wide-spanning equipment in their hands.
It wasn’t just the diversity of the jobs of the people here, or the wares for that matter; it was their race. Black chitin-covered people went to and fro, flittering above the crowds on bug-like wings, while lumbering Minotaurs carried their hammers to steaming anvils. Griffins (you could tell by the feathery wings and purple rimmed eyes) walked silently about, grim faced as ever; only one or two we passed ever seemed cheery. Other than that, there were a few grizzled faces (that, oddly, reminded me of a Donkey in similarity) and the main population of ponies.
We took in the sights like sweet nectar, the Olde Style brick buildings and tiled roofs giving the city a rugged beauty. However, I was snapped out of my reverie by a small weasel-faced man brushing past me. I could already tell he had stolen the small coin purse he now expertly handled as I tried to weave through the crowd, but in vain as he weaved past countless people.
Fortunately, he was stopped by a large and thin man, dressed a black duster (with leather shoulder pads), a midnight black shirt and pair of jeans in the same colour along with a set of cowboy black leather boots. The man placed a stopping hand on the weasel-man’s shoulder, took the purse and threatened him quietly before letting the small man get away, a hand quickly extended to give me back the miniature leather bag.
“You alright there, mate?” His accent having a low rasping sound to it “You going through the Bazaar to get to the port, then?” He smiled thinly as I took the purse, nodded and placed it back on my hip.
“Yeah” The others had caught up to me by now, and panted, breathing heavily from the hard task of getting back to me through the dense crowd.
We nodded to each other, as I smiled and nodded again, a little low on power to speak; after all I hadn’t recharged in at least 12 hours (the carriage ride was long. As was the whole Canterlot fiasco).
“Well then, you best follow me then, laddy” He walked off in the separate direction, headed for the southern entrance on the way to the port, as he sent a message to his boss.
‘The bot’s following me. Phase two will be ready by nightfall’.