Chapter Sixty-three
“Oh man...” Phil whispered. “This is not good...” Creiddylad was led from the cellar to the center of the platoon. She didn’t fight, but Phil could see she wasn’t happy about this. She frowned thoughtfully, and Phil saw mercifully that the fight hadn’t totally left her yet.
“You know her?” Misty asked, her eyes locked on the morose procession before them.
“I know of her. She’s the sister of a friend of mine. Oh, geez, I get it now. What can we do to stop them?”
Misty was silent for a torturously long time. The soldiers had readied themselves to march forward by the time she spoke again: “I’m... I’m not sure, kid. There’s too many of them to take on our own. If Trixie and Soren were here too, we might stand a chance, but not like this. They’d stop up before we could get away.”
Phil felt like screaming, but held it together. The two had to stay hidden still, and he wasn’t ready to give up yet either. “There’s got to be something...” He stared intently at the group before them, facing away, and he could just see Creiddylad between the troops. Desperate and ready to snap, Phil almost wasn’t thinking straight, but then an idea came to him. It wasn’t a huge plan, and it wouldn’t solve much yet, but he felt he had to do something- anything.
He charged a tiny wisp of flame in his hand, and launched it between the soldiers right at Creiddylad’s back. It sailed forward, went unnoticed by all the guards, and burned a hole in the cloth binding her hands. She flinched slightly as the flame came close to her skin, but remained otherwise impassive. She knew she had just been freed partially, but didn’t want to let on to the soldiers. Phil smiled tersely, and he knew Creiddylad knew someone was trying to get her out.
“We follow them at a distance.” Phil explained quickly and quietly. Misty remained silent and watching, nodding to Phil’s plan. “We can’t take them now- they’re already on the way to the execution. We might get another chance a bit further in, but we’ll have to stick close.”
Misty nodded, her hand on the hilt of the sword at her belt. The platoon of soldiers began their deadly march to the dead center of the city, where a platform would be waiting for them. Phil and Misty wove between the buildings, staying close behind but out of sight. Soon the streets became full of people, standing aside to let the soldiers through. They all bore a sad expression, honoring their fellow who had fallen to the hand of Celestia, but unable to do anything but watch. As Phil moved around and past them, he found himself annoyed at their inaction, but was grateful they didn’t do anything to stop him either.
The two pulled into the huge central square, where a crowd was gathering. At the end of the clearing was the telltale wooden platform, where the platoon of soldiers fell into position around. Creiddylad was led up to the center stage, then the two that held her back fell back to the back of the platform.
“Phil, please tell me you found something.” Trixie said, approaching from the opposite side of the square. Soren was in tow behind her, and both looked as despondent as Phil felt. “The thing’s already started. Please tell me you have a way out.”
“Working on it.” Phil answered tersely. “Her hands are actually free already, so we’ve got that. Also... It’s Fluttershy’s sister up there. Don’t know what she did, but now I know why we’ve got to save her.”
Trixie did a double take, looking first up at the stage, then back to Phil to see if he was serious, then back to the stage to see for herself. “You’re right... Oh, man, what do we do?”
Phil didn’t answer, too deep in thought. Trixie was obviously shaken by all the stress, then realizing the prisoner was closer than she thought, and might have been close to panic. Misty put a hand on her shoulder, but her eyes were locked on the platform as well. She may not have been as quick and tactical as Phil, but knew it was all business from here. Whatever was going to happen next, she had to have a part in pushing it the right way.
Phil gazed intently at the stage, running through several different scenarios that the team could try. None were very practical or safe, and they could only do one. If Creiddylad’s wings were serviceable, she might have been able to fly away and meet halfway with the Wonderbolts, then escape- but they were still bound behind her, and in pretty rough shape anyway. He doubted she could get very far on those wings. There were far too many soldiers and people around for them to try a frontal attack- they would be stopped before they began. The skies were clear, and they would be seen a mile away if they tried to fly in and swoop her out of there.
While he tried to figure something out, something in the air caught his eye. He turned his gaze to face it... then ducked down. The figure sailed on snow-white wings, banking slowly and coming to a halt just above the platform. With a final efficient flourish, she touched down, and drew the huge multi-bladed sword from the sheath on her back.
The Queen Celestia had arrived. They were too late.
She was fully equipped in her iconic white armor, her large wings folded like a cape behind her, her pale, multicolored hair flowing in the breeze behind her. The sword of pure light- the Blade of Light as Xekora had called it- was balanced evenly in her hand, pointed towards Creiddylad. Despite being blindfolded and beaten, Fluttershy’s sister stood tall and faced Celestia defiantly, seeming almost unaware of the sword in her face.
From somewhere near the platform, a drum had been sounding steadily, and continued as the captain of the gathered soldiers strode to stand near the back of the stage, behind the prisoner and executioner. He unfurled a scroll of paper before him and began to read, listing the charges against Creiddylad. Phil noted how distressingly long the list was.
“For the crimes of high treason, opposition and murder of royal forces, grand theft, illegal trafficking of wanted persons and unauthorized arms and supplies, sabotage and destruction of royal property, piracy, and conspiring with known and wanted terrorist group New Dawn against the Queen- the prisoner stands sentenced to death.”
Geez, she’s been keeping herself busy these seven years. This New Dawn group- that’s the same one Lord Blake was with, right? And it sounds like Creiddylad was a pretty active member of it as well. But I just don’t see a way to get her out of this... I wish we could have met her before. By the looks of it, she could have been a huge help to us, and we might have even been put into contact with this existing resistance faction.
“Have you any last words?” Celestia said, speaking clearly enough for the whole crowd to hear. She didn’t sound like she expected much of an answer, though, or perhaps she meant to imply Creiddylad shouldn’t give an answer.
The convicted resistance fighter remained silent for a moment, then spoke quietly, with a voice disused: “You’re through, Celestia. Don’t you see? Kill me, and you deal the final hand that ends this game. I’ve lived my life with only a few major regrets, but fighting against you isn’t one of them. I accomplished what I could, and in death, you’ll set into motion the final move that seals your fate.”
“Do you mean to sway your judgement?” Celestia responded icily. “Do you suppose telling me of some grander purpose beyond death will keep me from ending your life for what you’ve done?”
“No. I do not.” Creiddylad answered simply. “I know that my fate is sealed in place, just as yours is. Our lives are lived in chance, and we must move forward with the hand we’re given, but once we receive our cards there is no changing it. Neither of us can fold, and neither of us will win, but I am satisfied that you will lose. And...” As Creiddylad spoke she slowly moved her hands away from each other. One hovered in place, twitching with anticipation, while the other reached warily into her pocket. “I will end my final move by playing the last ace up my sleeve!”
In one daring move, she moved one hand up to her face, ripping the blindfold away from her eyes. Her other hand pulled away from her pocket, a tiny object clutched between her fingers. She didn’t have time to blink in the bright sunlight and regain her sight, but her aim was true, perhaps just lucky. She wound back and threw her belonging, and it shot forward into the crowd.
Soren reached up and caught it swiftly, dropping his hand a moment later to avoid being seen. Phil was curious about what it could have been but didn’t have time to ask. Her final task done, Creiddylad had ceased to move, not trying to dodge away from Celestia, resigned to her fate. The Blade of Light swung in from above, arcing around to finish the resistance fighter. She gazed blindly into the crowd, and adopted a sorrowful smile. “The Goddess will have her justice in the end...”
Phil looked away the moment before the sword connected, as did all three of his companions. Trixie clutched at his arm tightly, her eyes squeezed shut, and he closed his own eyes in honoring silence. He was once again surprised by Trixie’s behavior- despite having such a cold and deadly attitude most of the time, despite being obsessed with revenge and perhaps a bit self-sacrificial, Phil could tell there was a normal, scared girl in there somewhere.
Phil felt a tap on his shoulder, and noticed Soren was motioning for them to see something. Careful not to let his gaze fall upon the scene unfolded on the wooden platform before them, Phil turned to him to see what he wanted. Trixie did as well, but was severely shaken from the sight, and still hung onto Phil’s arm. Misty was on Soren’s other side, and put a hand on his shoulder as she moved to face him. “What is it?” She asked quietly.
Soren held out his hand, and a playing die sat in his palm. “This is what she threw into the crowd. I think she wanted the people who tried to free her to find it. That was you two, wasn’t it?” He asked Phil and Misty, who nodded silently. “She said that this was her final move, giving this up, but... what is it, if it’s not just a normal game piece?”
Phil looked to Trixie thoughtfully, and she nodded. “We heard a story about that girl, Creiddylad, from her little sister and some friends. That die has some kind of enchantment on it, and when she rolled it, it gave her different power-ups based on what number it landed on. If I had to guess... I think she’d want us to return it to Fluttershy.”
“Hey, there’s something on the side there.” Misty pointed out, taking the tiny cube. “Yeah, here on the ‘three’ side. The letters ‘ND’ are etched into the corners.”
“New Dawn.” Phil reasoned. “It’s a weapon, and she wants it to go back to the resistance group.”
“But we don’t know where that is.” Misty pointed out. “Rilken wouldn’t tell us where they were based. How are we supposed to get this back to them?”
“I’ve... I’ve actually got an idea where they might be.” Soren said, drawing the attention of all three others. “It’s not a very sturdy connection, but there might be a place way deep in the abandoned territory that used to be Dawn, that might be suitable for a base. Thing is, I’ll bet anything that this is one secretive, selective group, and they won’t take kindly to a whole party of people showing up at their doorstep.”
“So only one of us should go.” Misty finished. “And frankly, I think we need to do something about this city too. There were plenty of people that seemed pretty scared or just ticked that there were so many soldiers around, and emotions will probably be high after... this. So tell you what- the three of us will stay here, and Soren- you go and try to deliver that die back to New Dawn. I don’t know where it is, and that might be for the best. You can assure them then that you’re the only one who knows, and we’ll be kept in the dark.”
Soren sighed, then nodded and took the enchanted playing die. “Alright, fine. It’s not super far from here, so I should be back... I dunno, within the week? I’m going to get in there and drop this thing off as soon as I find one of their guys, and get back here. Misty, I... listen, I want to tell you something. I don’t full know what’s going on here, but I feel like we should stick together as much as possible. We were the best of friends and partners back when we were in the Wonderbolts, and I feel like we should be using that to our advantage in this new mess. I don’t know about the others, so we’ve got to stick together as much as we can.”
“I agree.” She said. “But we don’t have time to get sappy now. Get going so you can get back, alright?” Soren nodded and backed up a few paces, then launched into the air and sailed off on dark blue, almost black wings. Misty watched fondly as he sailed off in the distance, then turned to the others. “Right. Let’s... let’s get back to camp, huh? We’ll figure out what we need to do next tomorrow, but I think we all need some sleep tonight...”