//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Blank Flanks Barrow // Story: The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM // by FireOfTheNorth //------------------------------// Chapter IV: Blank Flanks Barrow ”The ancient earth ponies of Horizon worshipped the dragons, and were cursed for it.” Blank Flanks Barrow. That was where I was now headed. Faniar had said his reliable source had tracked the dragonstone there. But didn’t that make sense? After all, the dragonstone (as far as I understood it) was a record made for dragons and kept by ponies for safekeeping. And the pony who’d built Blank Flanks Barrow had served the dragons. Calcion the Vengeful. A blank flank, like me. Only, he had taken things too far. He’d killed everypony who he’d ever known and burnt his home to the ground. That wouldn’t happen with me. But I was still reluctant to enter the tomb of a pony who had. “Well, who else could’ve taken it?” I heard Calciar say as I entered the Riverwood Trader. “Now, honey, she’s never given us any reason not to trust her,” Eruthar said. “Well, I think it’s a pretty big coincidence that it disappears right after she stays here.” “Why don’t you ask her about it yourself?” Eruthar said as she entered the main room and saw me standing there. “Ah, Sapphire,” Calciar said, emerging from the back room with a forced smile, “Could I speak to you a moment?” “Sure,” I said, not sure what this was about. “Did you . . . take anything from the store last time you were here?” “Other than what I bought and what you gave me, no.” “Well, I’ve lost something immensely valuable to me, and it disappeared right after you stayed here.” “Wait, are you saying I stole it?” “I’m just saying it was here before you were here, and after it was gone.” “I wouldn’t take anything from you! Why would you think that?” “Calciar,” Eruthar said, hitting him on the shoulder, “Can’t you see she’s telling the truth? She wouldn’t steal from us.” “Okay, I’m sorry for accusing you,” he apologized, “It’s just I don’t know how it could have disappeared.” “What is it anyway?” I asked. “A golden dragon claw fashioned by the ancient earth ponies as part of their dragon cult. It was the most prized artifact I had in my collection. I don’t know who could’ve stolen it.” “You must have some clue. Have any ponies you don’t know come through here?” “Plenty, mostly guards from Whitetrot come to protect the town. But it couldn’t be any of them.” “I’ll take a look around and see if I can find it,” I said. “Thank you so much. I don’t know how I ever doubted you.” I took my leave of Calciar and Eruthar and left their shop. Whoever had taken their golden claw couldn’t have gone far. At least, I hoped not. If my search took me too far from Riverwood, I would have to give up. I still had Blank Flanks Barrow to search. A light snow was falling on the valley as I looked through the town for anything suspicious. True to his word, Jarl Valor’s Blade had sent soldiers here to protect the town. They patrolled the walkways over the gates and walked through the village, searching for suspicious activity. I tried to find any ponies who hadn’t been here the two other times I had. I didn’t have a very good memory of who exactly lived here, but I didn’t think I saw any strange ponies. Well, other than the guards. But, behind the lumber mill, I did notice something strange. Stuffed somewhat haphazardly behind a pile of chopped wood was a bundle of clothes. Pulling them out, I saw they were a Whitetrot guard’s uniform. As I turned them over, a folded piece of parchment fell out. I levitated it and began to read. Yorl, Here is the set of Whitetrot armor you will need for your mission. With it you should be able to enter and exit Riverwood without arousing suspicion. Dispose of it as soon as you can afterwards. Once you have pulled off the theft, rendezvous with me at the bandit camp in Blank Flanks Barrow. Present my amulet and you will be allowed passage. Don’t even think about coming without the claw. -L. I looked up at the ruin on the mountainside as I finished reading. It appeared my quests both converged on the same place. Nothing could now stop me from reaching Blank Flanks Barrow. ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ The wind howled more violently as I neared the peaks of the mountains. I blinked the snow out of my eyes as it inevitably found its way in. I found myself wishing I had bought armor with a fur lining to keep me warm. An arrow whistled past my ear and brought my attention back to the moment. I soon found the source of the projectile. A bandit with a bow was standing on the battlements of an ancient watchtower guarding the path to Blank Flanks Barrow. Well, the note had said the Barrow was now a bandit hole. A blast of lightning fried the archer and allowed me to proceed. A dark blue mare emerged from the tower, swinging a sword at me with her mouth. As my lightning missed her and skittered across her sword, I brought up my war axe to block. Her swing came down harder than I’d expected and pushed me back. I brought my axe up again and blocked her next attack. Knocking her sword aside with my next swing, I spun my weapon around and sank the blade into her eye. As I yanked it out, she went flying backwards, dying as her blood ran down her face. Steam rose from the snow next to me as a fireball burned into the drift. While I had been fighting the sword-mare, a mage had emerged from the tower. The rust red unicorn sent another fireball my way and I dodged. I galloped up as fast as I could before he could cast again and swung my sword into his neck as hard as I could. He fell, staining the snow with blood, as the wide gash opened up. As I looked around, I was confident there were no more bandits in the immediate area, so I cleaned my weapons and started back up the path. Ancient and broken rocks bearing strange runes became more prevalent next to the path as I neared the Barrow. At last, I came in sight of the arches adorning the entrance. The entryway was a large half-circle carved out of the mountain, and arches of a matching size continued out away from it all the way to the cliff’s edge. On the edge, a carved dragon head large enough for a pony to stand on extruded from the rock. From atop the dragon’s head, I could see the entire valley. My mind flashed to Calcion the Vengeful, and how he must’ve once stood in this very spot overlooking the ruins of his home. Three bandits stood near the entrance. My arrow went wide, hitting the wall behind them, but it created enough of a distraction that I could gallop up and take out one of them before they were on to me. Both came at me at the same time, one holding a sword in his mouth, the other levitating a mace. I blocked his sword with my own sword and her mace with my war axe as they both swung at me. The metal on metal clangs echoed off the cliffs as the multiple weapons slammed into each other. Hooking my war axe around the mace, I sent it slamming into the snow. As the mare retrieved it, I swung my sword around at the other bandit. He was too quick, and blocked every attack I threw at him, even when I swiped both weapons at him at once. But, his block finally fell and I managed to get my war axe in his throat. It was stuck and I didn’t have time to yank it out before the mare came at me with her mace again. I blocked with my sword and shot flames into her face. Batting at the fire, she backed up, but didn’t lower her guard. My sword clanged against her mace as it knocked it once more into the snow. I plunged the Imperial sword into her gut as she backed away. Retrieving my axe, I approached the heavy stone doors decorated with carvings of dragons. Pushing my shoulder against the door, I slowly forced it open. I found myself in what had once been a great hall in ages long since passed. It must have once been far grander than it was now. The ancient stone pillars supporting the roof were broken and cracked, and some had entirely fallen away, allowing pieces of the ceiling to come raining down on the floor below. Near the middle of the room, a campfire burned. Four bandits sat around it on chests no doubt containing their ill-gotten wares. Two more ponies were also in the room, an earth pony in plain-looking clothes and a pegasus swathed in a black robe. I crept closer and hid behind a fallen piece of the ceiling, getting a better look at my collection of adversaries. The bandits were all pretty natural, all earth ponies except for one, a unicorn wearing better armor who I took to be the leader. But the pegasus stood out. He acted aloof, as if he were infinitely better than everypony else in the room. As he stretched his wings, I saw that, unlike the rest of his pale blue coat, they were dyed black. He was a Blackwing, an agent of the Pegasari Dominion. But, what was he doing in a bandit hole in Horizon? “Did you bring it?” he asked in a silky tone, looking at the out-of-place earth pony. “Of course, Lightning Strike,” he said, reaching into his saddlebags, “Did you think I’d disappoint you? I’m the best thief in Horizon.” “Well, we’ll see about that,” Lightning Strike (the pegasus) said skeptically. I’d figured out that the pegasus must’ve been the mysterious “L” who’d signed the orders I’d found outside Riverwood. And the earth pony was Yorl. My suspicions were confirmed as he produced a golden claw from his saddlebags. I only caught a glimpse of it as Yorl drew it back when Lightning reached out to take it. “Uh, uh, uh,” Yorl said, “Payment first.” If the pegasus got his hooves on that claw he could easily fly through one of the holes in the ceiling and be gone forever. I had to stop this deal from taking place. Fitting an arrow to my bow, I fired it into the back of one of the bandits’ heads. She slumped over into the fire, sending sparks flying and distracting Lightning and Yorl. The dumbfounded pegasus dropped his bag of coins in the process. I fired another arrow, this time at the pegasus, but he flicked his wings up and shattered my projectile with blades he had kept well hidden in his feathers. As he launched himself up into the air, I was forced to use my bow to block the attack of a bandit with a war axe. Her strike shattered my bow, but I was able to pull out my own war axe in time to keep her from decapitating me. Kicking her legs out from under her, I stabbed my axe into her side before yanking her own axe away and burying it in her face. The next bandit came at me from behind, trotting around a pillar. Torching him with flames, I moved in for the kill. His mace never touched me, as my sword slashed through his face and knocked it to the ground. A burning pain lanced across my left flank as the bandit leader managed to get a hit on me with one of his swords. I spun around and blocked his other sword with my war axe. Spinning them both in cruel arcs, he advanced on me. My axe knocked the first away, but the second neared my neck, nearly slicing off a bit of my mane. I blasted him with a lightning bolt and he writhed uncontrollably. I took advantage of the moment to knock one of his swords away with my own. His other sword fell away under my flurry of blows as he crawled backwards on the ground. Lifting my sword above my head, I stabbed it into his chest, feeling the jolt as it hit the stone under him. I didn’t have time to pull it out of him as Lightning bowled into me. I found myself pressed up against a pillar, his hooves pinning me there while his wing-blades hovered near my throat. My sword was still stuck in the bandit chief and I had dropped my war axe when he ran into me. I was weaponless and defenseless as he stared into my eyes. “I don’t know who you think you are,” he said, “But you’ve caused more trouble than you know. Now I have to chase down that accursed lowlife thief just to get that artifact back. Blackwings don’t have a reputation for being patient.” “Why did you want it anyway?” I asked. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to find out what I had risked my life for since I was going to die anyway. “That doesn’t concern you,” he said snarkily, “You won’t ever see it again.” He turned out to be very wrong, for I had remembered I wasn’t completely unarmed. He coughed on his blood and released me as I stabbed my iron dagger into his throat. I guess making iron daggers was important after all. Pushing his body off me, I drank a healing potion to repair the wound done to my flank. It knitted itself back up, still blank, but whole again. I retrieved my weapons and headed deeper into the Barrow, but not before looting the chests the bandits were sitting on. I had plenty of time to track down Yorl and find the dragonstone. It wasn’t like he could escape out the back, this fortress had but one entrance. My looting gained me a few more potions, some gold, a new bow, and a new book to read: A Brief History of the Empire; Vol. I. Confident I had taken everything I needed, I headed through the door leading out of the great hall. Torches flickered as I descended into the mountain. Somepony had taken the time to place them, but for what purpose, I had no clue. All that seemed irrelevant as a giant rat jumped out at me. At least, I thought it was a giant rat. We had plenty of them in Unicornica, but this rat was much uglier, its fur rough and its skin flaking away. I quickly killed it with a strike from my war axe. Suddenly, the torches stopped. I pulled one out of its wall mounting and carried it along with me. I would have preferred not to walk through the dark at all, but I had no choice. I had descended quite a bit into the Barrow and there was still no sign of Yorl and the golden claw, or of the dragonstone. I stopped for a moment as my hoof touched something sticky. Investigating, I saw that it was spider web. Swinging the torch around, I saw the passageway I was about to enter was coated with it. I had no intentions of going down there and confronting Frostbite spiders. As I moved to back away, I heard a groan come from down the passage. “Hello?” I said hesitantly. “Please, somepony help me!” I heard Yorl call. Looked like I’d be going down the spider-tunnel after all. If I wanted to get the golden claw back, anyway. Keeping my sword up in case of a trap, I followed the path through the spider webs. When I thought I’d never find the end, I discovered Yorl all wrapped up in a web. “Look out!” he called, and I swung my sword around just in time. The light of my torch was reflected in the multiple eyes of a massive spider standing behind me. I stabbed my sword into the middle of its bloated head, causing it to hiss menacingly. My sword was caught when it pulled back, so I let it go and shot fire at the spider instead. It hissed all the louder as it burned, but finally fell to the floor. I yanked my sword out of the smoking corpse and turned back to Yorl. “Well, cut me down,” he said. “Golden claw,” I demanded. “Why do you want it?” he asked. “You stole it,” I said, “From a friend of mine.” “Okay,” he said, “You can have it back. But you’ll have to cut me down first.” Hoping he wouldn’t just stab me in the back the moment he was down, I cut the strands holding him in place. Heavily, he fell to the ground as the last one was cut. Before he could run off, I held my sword to his neck and motioned for him to turn over the golden claw. “You just don’t get it, do you?” he asked, “Not you, not that Blackwing agent, not anypony. This claw isn’t just some priceless trinket or ancient artifact. It’s a key. A key that will open up the depths of this Barrow.” “Why would I want to do that?” I asked, not taking my sword away from his neck. “Everything in this Barrow worth taking has been looted over the years,” he explained, “Except for the very lowest vault, because nopony could ever get it open. This will open it; it will unlock the door to treasures.” That did sound enticing. And maybe the dragonstone was down there too. After all, it had certainly never been removed from the Barrow. “Okay,” I said, pulling my sword back, “We’ll open up the lowest vault. But I’ll take the golden claw when it’s done.” “Sounds good to me,” Yorl said, jumping to his hooves, “I don’t need that thing anyway.” He picked up a torch and headed into the dark. “This way,” he called, “It’s just down here.” I followed him, but kept my sword at the ready. I wouldn’t let myself trust this thief. He led me down through twisting passageways through the fortress. Finally, we reached the mausoleum. Passing through another set of thick stone doors, we entered the place where the ancient earth ponies had been buried. Dropping our torches, we passed between the walls of dead. Braziers holding purplish fire burned every so far, illuminating the halls of the dead. The light from the magical flames cast unearthly shadows on the mummified faces of long-dead earth ponies. As we passed into the next chamber, I heard a rustling sound. I looked toward the source and was astonished when I saw one of the corpses climbing out of its hole in the wall. It fixed its glowing eyes upon me and pulled out a jagged and ancient sword. As if in a dream-state, I pulled my sword up to block. Ancient steel met modern and sparks flew. Pushing the sword back, I swung my own around and cut through the tendons in the zombie’s neck. The light died in its eyes as it fell to the ground, giving a raspy groan. “What are you doing?” Yorl asked, turning around, “Oh, what in Arkhay’s name is going on!?” “I don’t know,” I said, “This corpse just tried to kill me!” “How is this possible?” Yorl said, mostly to himself. More groaning and raspy breathing came from up ahead. “It appears we’ve disturbed the dead,” he said quietly. He pulled out a curved knife and trotted ahead. I picked up the sword the zombie had dropped and followed. More of the undead ponies waited for us in the next chamber. With my Imperial sword I stabbed one in the heart, and cut open the head of another with my ancient earth pony sword. Yorl killed the third with his knife, stabbing it into the corpse’s glowing eye. The next chamber was empty, for the moment, but I wasn’t taking any chances. As quietly as I could, I ran my sword over the throat of each of the corpses lining the walls. My sword slipped as I cut the last one and I ended up slicing through its foreleg instead. It gave a shriek as its glowing eyes popped open, and I smashed it in the face with my war axe. Stirring came from the next chamber. I rushed in to find six corpses climbing out of their tombs. I shot a blast of fire at one group, engulfing them in flames, and charged another with my war axe held high. As the burning undead charged around, I sank my war axe into one of the others’ heads. Pulling it out, I turned on the next one, who also had a war axe, albeit an older and more elaborately decorated one than mine. Our blades clashed and hooked together several times before I managed to throw it from the corpse’s mouth. My axe sank nearly to the hilt as it buried itself in the undead pony’s chest. The third one had a greatsword, which I blocked with both of my own swords. Sparks rained down on me. Tucking one of my swords away, I shot a bolt of lightning into the zombie’s face. Snarling, it backed up and its eyes flickered eerily. I aimed a slash at its foreleg, my sword easily cutting through the rotting flesh and disconnecting the hoof. It fell to one knee as I stabbed my sword into the side of its head. Two of the other zombies had burned out, their charred carcasses resting on the ground. The other one ran around, cursing in whatever ancient language earth ponies had once used, before leaving the room. As it ran out, it tripped and fell in the pool of oil soaking the hallway stretching off in the distance. The oil ignited and flames licked up the walls to where it dripped out through crevices in the ceiling. I held Yorl back and hid around the doorframe as the flames lit the corpses in the hall on fire. Hiding in the chamber filled with twice-dead ponies, we listened to the screams as the undead in the next room met their fiery ends. When the noises stopped, we entered the room and searched their charred bodies. The undead had apparently all been buried with small amounts of gold. The coins weren’t like any I had ever seen before, but gold was gold. After looting the bodies of the undead (some were even carrying potions) we continued into the Barrow. The path of burnt floor stretched out quite a ways before it turned off into another tunnel. I followed Yorl as he entered an expansive room more in the style of the fortress above than of the tombs below. Pillars carved in the likenesses of dragons curved up the walls and held up the ceiling. The wall at the far end of the room was dominated by a set of circular stone rings covered in runes and nestled within each other. The walls on either side held identical murals carved out of the rock. I realized as I followed them, that they were the story of Calcion the Vengeful. The first showed him as he left his hometown, hatred burning in his eyes as his neighbors drove him away. The second showed him approaching a dragon, seeking great power only they could give. The next showed Calcion in all his fury, a wickedly jagged sword held in his grasp, and fire burning both around him and in his eyes. The next mural showed his town, burning to the ground as he cut down anypony who tried to escape his wrath. The final mural showed him enthroned in Blank Flanks Barrow at the height of his power, looking down on the valley with a fierce hatred burning in his eyes. I was almost too caught up in the murals to notice the two corpses of ponies seated on thrones at the room’s end rise from their slumber. Luckily, I did notice. Both pulled out a greatsword shimmering with blue fire. One came for me, and the other for Yorl. He would have to take care of himself. My Imperial sword crackled as the undead pony’s blade came down on it. I pulled out the sword I had picked up off the zombie and slashed at the corpse’s legs. Giving a hiss, it backed away. Could ponies hiss? Well, I guess they could if they had been dead for thousands of years. The next time the zombie swung its greatsword at my head, I ducked and the blade smashed into the mural behind me, right into Calcion’s face. Bits of stone fell into my mane as I crawled across the floor. I slashed my sword at the back of the zombie’s neck as I jumped to my hooves. A gash opened up, but it didn’t kill the creature. It swung around at me, the blade whistling over my head. Ducking down, I stabbed my ancient earth pony sword up into its chest. It fell forward heavily on the blade and dropped its own sword to the stone floor. Pulling the sword out and wiping the dark, thick blood off, I searched for the other one. Yorl was surprisingly still alive, though he had a nasty looking cut on his side. The zombie pursuing him had several nicks in its armor, but was otherwise fine. Yorl backed into a corner as it advanced on him and raised its sword for a killing blow. I charged up and jumped onto the undead pony’s back. It growled and tried to swing its greatsword at me. I held on for dear life and pulled out my war axe. Repeatedly, I slammed it into the back of the zombie’s head until its skull split open. “Thanks,” Yorl said as the zombie collapsed under me. I passed a potion to him for the gash on his side, closing it up before we went any farther. “How do we get past this?” I asked as I approached the circular pattern at the end of the room that was obviously some kind of door. “Like I said,” Yorl said, pulling out the golden claw, “It’s a key.” Peering closely at the claw’s palm, he rotated the rings around until he was satisfied with their positions. When he appeared certain the rings were correct, he inserted the tips of the claw into the three holes on the center circle. Giving a push and a twist, the door began to sink into the floor with the sound of grinding stone. Yorl removed the golden claw from the door before it sank all the way into the ground and threw it to me. Nearly hopping up and down with anticipation, he rushed into the room that was now open to us. A huge natural cavern was past the circular opening. Waterfalls ran down the walls and glowing fungus illuminated the huge open area. All except for the far end, where a monument of stone had been constructed. A gigantic wall decorated with dragons rose up behind a raised platform holding two grand chests and an ornately decorated sarcophagus. I walked through the shallow underground river as Yorl rushed up to the platform. Pulling out some lockpicks, he pried open one of the chests. It occurred to me that this may not be entirely safe just a moment before the lid of the sarcophagus burst off, sending pieces of stone raining down. Another of the zombies, this one in fantastically well-preserved armor, emerged from its tomb. As I tried to call out a warning to Yorl, the zombie ran him through with wickedly jagged sword. Throwing Yorl’s body away, he looked down at me, hatred burning in his eyes. It was Calcion the Vengeful. Of course, the lowest, most well-guarded, and most ornate tomb in the Barrow would belong to the pony who’d built it. Somehow, someway, Calcion was alive again. Whether it was the dragon magic he had sold his soul for, or he was just too immensely powerful to stay dead, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was back, and it looked like he wanted to kill me. He jumped off his raised platform and slammed into the ground, his sword glowing as he did. Pointing it at me, he shot a bolt of lightning from its tip. I narrowly dodged it and splashed in the river. The dragons had granted him power indeed if he could use unicorn magic. I barely brought up my Imperial sword in time to block as he slashed down at me. Keeping my sword held above me, I tried to backpedal out of the water. He brought his sword down again, this time shattering the blade of mine. As he slashed at me again, I rolled out of the river. His sword hit the water and sent lightning dancing through it, including into his body. I managed to shoot two arrows into his neck before he pulled his sword out and swung around on me. I shot a blast of flame at him as I pulled out my ancient earth pony sword. The flames dissipated around him as his eyes glowed brighter. He charged me, his head lowered. Two cruelly curved horns topped his helmet and the tip of one jabbed into my chest as he rammed me. Sinking it in deeper, he pushed me up the wall. I slashed my sword at his back, but it just bounced off his armor. Twisting it around, I was able to aim a little higher and make a cut in the back of his neck. He growled and dropped me to the floor. Blood flowed freely from my wound, which was just below my heart. I cast a quick healing spell to stop the bleeding and raised my sword up to deflect Calcion’s next blow. He continued to rain down blows on my sword, but it was ancient earth pony too, like his, and seemed extremely sturdy. When he raised it a high as he could for a power attack, I rolled out of the way. As his sword came down, mine went up and slammed into his throat. I continued to cut at it until his head rolled off his shoulders. Giving a final groan, the bright blue light in his eyes died. I staggered a bit before drinking down a healing potion to finish healing up my wound. I picked up Calcion’s sword and examined it. It was really a fine sword, and apparently enchanted to shock opponents. I took the sheath off Calcion’s body and added it to my collection of weapons, to replace my broken Imperial sword. Now that he was dead, I could explore. I made my way up to where Yorl had fallen. When he’d died, the heavy bag of coins Lightning had given him had rolled out. A little guiltily, I added them to my saddlebags. I popped open the chest Yorl had been looking at. Inside, I found an ancient earth pony shield, some potions, some gold, a flawless ruby, and the dragonstone. At least, I assumed it was the dragonstone. It was a stone slab covered in crude runes, what else could it be? As I prepared to go, I took a look at the wall that reared up behind Calcion’s resting place. The bottom part of it was covered with runes like the ones decorating the Barrow and the dragonstone. A particular cluster stood out for me. And I mean they literally stood out. A single word burned with blue fire. I heard chanting in my head as thoughts that were not my own entered it. Every possible application of the word I learned in a moment. I knew everything there was to know about force. Or, as I knew it as now: ~FUS~ Level Up Health: 120 Stamina: 110 Magicka: 110 New Perk: Early Destroyer [Destruction] -- Novice-level Destruction spells can now be cast for half Magicka. Unique Item added: Calcion’s Cleaver -- The sword of Calcion the Vengeful was forged by the earth pony smiths of old, is extremely resilient, and can cast lightning from its tip. Does additional damage when wielded by a blank flank. Word of Power learned: FUS -- Force; Unrelenting Force – Your Voice is raw power, pushing aside anything — or anyone — who stands in your path. New Quest: Language of the Dragons -- You have learned your first word of power in Draconic. Now you must discover what you can do with it.