Chapter 10
If there is a Hell, then this place is practice!!! I thought not for the first time since we arrived on Gaea. It was a jungle-world, alright, complete with weird-looking trees, soggy ground from decaying leaves underfoot (even with the cobblestone roads), giant mosquitoes that I at first mistook for large mosquito hawks, and of course, the unending, ever-present, ever irritating stickiness of humidity.
Both Jackylin and Applejack took it in stride like ti was nothing, but then, Applejack was used to wearing heavy armor on a daily basis (which she'd left behind in Ponyville) which often made her sweat a lot, and Jackylin was a local. Every hour or so we'd stop and take a few swallows of water from our water pouches and in my case, canteen, and then we'd start walking again until nightfall, but even after the sun had gone down it was still warm, and still sticky, though to a slightly lesser degree.
“How can you stand living here, Jackylin?” I asked at one point. She looked over her shoulder and smiled.
“You'd have to have been born here, I think. During my first week on Mythica I was cold, thirsty all the time, and my skin would feel tight because the air was drier. You're obviously uncomfortable here, but to me, this world is home.” She swatted three mosquitoes that had landed on her arm one after the other. “Though I'd not lament it if these thrice-cursed bugs would die out!” She growled as she wiped two of the mushed bugs off her arm. The third had gotten away, and was now buzzing around Applejack's flank. She looked over her shoulder, frowned, and flicked it with her tail. It dropped to the ground and twitched. Applejack smirked and looked ahead of us again.
In total we'd been walking for longer than a week, as Jackylin said we would, and other than a few groups of tents we'd seen that had been pitched next to the side of the road from time to time there were very few forms of housing. We did pass actual houses from time to time, but there were not many, and most of them had vines growing all over them. I'd asked if they were abandoned, but apparently nature was allowed to overgrow just about everything on purpose. It made it easier to hide the fact that you lived in the area from anything you might be hoping to have for dinner. Most of the houses seemed to be uninhabited until another three days later when we came to a large wall (also overgrown with vines just about everywhere) that had several armed men and women patrolling it from the top. The road we'd been following took us up to a large wooden door that was secured shut from the other side. Some parts of the door seemed to be rotting at the base, but the rot for the size, which was six times wider and one of me and a half tall, it was minimal.
A guard at the top pointed us out and crossbows were aimed at us. My eyes wandered to the boot holding the horn. Applejack's eyes darted from one bow holder to the next, her face trying to remain calm. If they decide to shoot at us it could get ugly! I dragged my tongue along my lower lip.
“Relax, they're just making sure we don't try anything while the gatekeeper goes to the door. It's standard procedure.” Jackylin assured us. “Just don't do anything stupid, and we'll be fine.” Fine we were, though Applejack got stares of shock or hunger from all the patrolmen that saw her. Applejack ignored them and kept her gaze aimed low so they'd not see the spirit in her eyes that was absent on her face. Jackylin showed the guards her 'invitation', and after a thorough inspection of it they too, let us go.
When we were out of earshot Applejack asked how many more of these checkpoints we'd be going through. Jackylin said that the wall was the last one.
“That wall encloses the king's personal domain and hunting grounds, which we'll be passing through shortly, so no. So long as we stick to the road we'll be in no danger of getting lost.”
Another day and a half later we finally arrived at the king's castle, which was larger than I'd expected, considering that as a predator race, a large number of people settling down in one place did not seem practical to me. When I voiced this Jackylin explained that the castle itself was only used for large gatherings, and that their leader normally lived someplace else.
As we came to the front door a guard standing behind a lowered portcullis looked us over and asked to see the notice. He blinked a few times in confusion at Applejack, but shrugged and took the scroll as Jackylin reached part of it through to him. He briefly ran his eyes over it, then commented that we were a bit early.
“We make it a point to put the king's wishes first, in my town. It is...” she paused, seeming to think for a moment. “healthier, that way.” The guard nodded and placed it inside a small chest by his feet. He knocked his metal spear against a metal-framed window and the portcullis began to be raised up eight seconds later.
“Go through the door and advance two rooms, then wait until a servant comes for you. He or she will take you to your room, milady. That same servant shall prepare a bath for you, should you desire it.”
“My own servant shall do it for me.” Jackylin stated, pointing a thumb at Applejack, who lowered her head even further. The guard raised an eyebrow and seemed like he wanted to voice a question, but decided not to and stepped aside to allow us to pass, which we did with Jackylin taking the lead. Two rooms later, we stopped and waited as the guard had instructed. We did not have to wait long, for only a few minutes later a servant came and asked Jackylin to follow her.
The 'her' was a young girl of perhaps only nine years, which made me wonder at what age it was, given their shorter lifespan, that they married on average. Judging from what I'd seen, Gaea was in what my world knew as the 'Dark Ages', or the 'Middle Ages' technology-wise. According to what little I recalled from my High School history classes, it was not uncommon (at least, amongst royalty) for children as young as thirteen to marry. While the idea in my mind seemed gross of my own race, we lived quite a bit longer than this breed of Human did. I suppose I could just ask Jackylin... We passed a richly-dressed overweight man, who watched Jackylin, Applejack, and myself as we passed and sneered. He had two armored men armed to the teeth standing to his right and left. Jackylin ignored them, so we did too. But not right now. Right now I suppose I should be focusing on doing the job that I'm pretending to be doing. I adopted a stern face and straightened my shoulders.
When we arrived at our destination the child turned and bowed to Jackylin.
“This is where you'll be staying. Will you be requiring anything else, milady?”
“A serving pitcher of water for my guard and personal servant, and you informing the king that the representative from Boarborne has arrived. Nothing more.” The servant bowed again and left, but not before looking glancing once more at Applejack in wonder. It would seem she's never seen a pony before. Or not one colored so, at least. I thought as she left and shut the door behind her.
“If either of you wish to have a seat, you may do so, now.” Jackylin stated, taking a seat herself.
The room's furniture consisted of a queen-sized bed, two cots on the floor which were no doubt meant for the bodyguards should a representative choose to bring them, two cushioned chairs, a mirror dresser with a basin and a pitcher and a towel for washing and drying one's face, and a wooden table between the two chairs. The bed had two pillows, but no blanket, not that one would need it. The cots had only one pillow each, but neither of them were in particularly good shape. But bodyguards are likely used to this kind of thing. We'll manage.
“Jus' so we're clear,” Applejack said, giving Jackylin a stern look. “If'n you use this ruse to humiliate me, as soon as we git back ta Equestria, I'm kickin' yer flank!”
“Do not forget our goal, Applejack. If we fail here, then getting humiliated will be the least of your worries, trust me. Your being here at all was to help convince the others that we've subjugated your town already. Once this is done with, if you feel the need, feel free to 'kick my flank' as you say. I'll even stand still and take your abuse.”
“On that note,” I began, taking a seat on the one of the cots near the only window in the room. Dang, sitting down feels good! “When do we...take care of business?”
“Soon enough. Timing will be just as important as method. Speaking of which, how many ways do you know to kill someone?” I thought about it a few moments, then vaguely replied 'many'.
I'd never actually killed another Human being before, though I'd had slain Dragons, Griffons, four Diamond Dogs, two Hydras, several Manticor, a Minotaur that'd been infected with rabies that just so happened to be on the same city street as me, several types of undead, a Sea Serpent, and on one occasion that nearly ended with me being a garden ornament, a Cockatrice. Killing something didn't really require a lot of magical effort so long as you knew its weak points. Even taking down the Ursa would have been simpler had I known where its vitals (if it had any) were. From an exploded heart or a bullet to the head to suffocation or poisoning, killing something was simple. Protecting against it or countering it, though? That's hard. Especially if your enemy knew how to do the same thing to you and you didn't recognize the warnings your body gave you in time. If you didn't...well then, if it was a friendly sparring match, you passed out on the floor. If it wasn't, you died.
“Subtle, or dramatic?”
“I can do both. What did you have in mind?”
Jackylin's eyes suddenly began darting around the room while she spoke, and I raised an eyebrow and also began looking around. I saw nothing beyond what I'd already seen: furniture, a window, the door we'd come in through, a painting of some animal that resembled a saber-toothed tiger, and an indoor toilet modeled after what looked like a Roman toilet that I'd seen in a documentary back on Earth when I was in middle school. Nothing special. Applejack sniffed the air, also looking about once she saw us doing so.
“Well I'd like to stay a few days and make my report as we are supposed to be doing. I doubt my grandfather would approve of me doing otherwise. Our duty to the king comes first, and ambition can wait until later. The proceedings will probably take a few days, so we have time.” She thinks someone's listening in. If all that someone is doing is listening, that would explain why I didn’t get the feeling of being watched.
“But ah thought you said-” Applejack began.
“Silence!” Jackylin ordered sharply. Applejack blinked, her mouth still open. “You'll do as you're told, and nothing more. You're here to serve me, not think! If you would prefer otherwise, I can always send you to the breeding pens when we get back to Mythica!” Applejack's eyes sparked a flame, and she looked about to start yelling. I quickly sealed her mouth shut with my magic and slapped my own arm hard. My arm smarting, I winked at Jackylin and then got up from my seat and moved quickly to Applejack and whispered in one of her ears what was going on. Applejack nodded, so I released my hold on her.
“She's lucky we're in the situation we're in, or she'd get bucked up!” she whispered back.
“If we weren't in this situation, I'd help you do it. For now we'd better just play along.” She nodded again and I stood.
“Look at me like that again and you'll get far worse than a slap next time!” Jackylin growled. “Now, draw up a bath for me and my body guard. I wish to be rid of the filth of travel, and he smells rather unpleasant.” She gave Applejack a half-apologetic look. Half because she looked a little annoyed. “Lighthand, go with her, and see that she does it right.”
“Of course, lady Darkfist.”
“There should be a well in the courtyard. Now go.”
I went into the bathing room and found a wooden bucket next to a metal tub and picked it up by its handle, also made of wood. On my way to the door Jackylin grabbed at my shirt and gave it a tug as I walked by her. Sh leaned in closer and told me to hand it to Applejack. “The only one doing manual labor has to be her because she's supposed to be a servant. You can carry it to the well and fill it, but after that, give the bucket to her to carry back. Tell her that if we succeed I'll make it up to her later.” I nodded and she let my shirt go.
Several trips back and forth from the well and one request for directions later the tub was full and Applejack tossed the bucket onto the floor.
“Ah hope she'll have you heatin' the water, cuz startin' fires with hoofs is tough work!” She said in a soft voice in case we were still being listened in on.
“Given how warm it is here, she probably won't need to have it heated. The coolness of the ground water will probably feel good.” I eyed the tub. “Actually, I'd not mind a dip in a lake somewhere myself.” Jacob glanced at the entrance to their room.
Jackylin had not been in the room when they'd gotten back and had not left a note of any sort. I wonder where she is?
__ __ __ __ __
As soon as Jacob and Applejack were gone Jackylin silently rose from her seat and stalked over to the only painting in the room and drew her knife. She examined the painting a moment, and then stabbed her knife and arm through it. Someone on the other side cried out in pain and Jackylin quickly withdrew her arm and tore the painting from the wall and leaped into it like a lion from a tree branch. The sound of someone scrambling back the way they'd come echoed down the hidden passage and Jackylin quickened her pace. Her hand slid in something damp and while she crawled Jackylin held it up to her face. Blood. Looks like I scored a hit on our guest!
Jackylin caught sight of a bare foot ahead of her and bared her teeth. A few more seconds... she thought as she gained on her prey. Whoever it was, they couldn't have been very big, as the passage she was half-running half crawling through narrowed. Finally, just as she reached a point that she'd need to turn sideways and crawl completely to get through her prey slipped and fell to the floor. Half a seconds later Jackylin was literally on them and pinned the spy to the floor. It was then Jackylin realized that the spy was small. It had to be a child.
“Who are you working for?!” Jackylin demanded, growling. She didn't really care who was doing the spying, as it was probably just a servant that had been paid off. The child whimpered, but said nothing. Jackylin frowned and decided to try playing nice first. “If you tell me, I'll pay you.” Jackylin couldn't be sure given how little light there was, but she thought the child shook its head. No to money? Then it's fear that motivates this kid to spy. But fear of who? There was no way to know for certain. Even if Jackylin decided to stoop to torture, any answer given could be a lie just to make her stop. And what's worse, if I let this kid go, it'll probably run back to whoever it's working for and tell them they've been caught. Regardless of what I do or don't do, this kid's meat. Not only that, but once the spy's employer knew that she knew that she was being watched, other things, such as abducting her 'servant' or her 'bodyguard' to obtain information would likely follow. Better that this kid disappear now, and save the both of us a little torment. Jackylin sighed, shook her head, regret already filling her mind as she raised her knife again.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
The water now heated and steam rising from the surface, I returned to the main bedroom and took a seat, once more idly looking around the room. Bed...table...other chair, window, Applejack, hole in the wall... I furrowed my brow and quickly traced my eyes back to where the painting had been. Uh huh, it's a hole, alright. But it's far too big to be the casual 'let's be lazy and hide the hole with a painting' type of hole. I stood up and walked over to it, curious, and gathered light into my right palm and reached it into the hole, illuminating it.
“Ack! Put out your namesake, Lighthand!” Jackylin said, covering her eyes. I blinked in surprise and stumbled back a few steps.
“What are you doing in there?!”
“Better question:” Applejack said, joining me. “why are you in there?”
“Confirming a suspicion.” She replied, sliding her legs out first and gripping the edges with her hands to pull the rest of herself out. “We were being spied on. I...dealt with it.” Neither I, nor Applejack said anything, and from Jackylin's expression, neither of us wanted to. “Is the tub filled and the water heated?” We nodded silently. “Goody! We could all use a good washing! I'll let you know when I'm done so you can empty and refill the tubs for yourself.” Jackylin walked by us and into the bathroom at a slow walk that seemed to be forced calmness. Before shutting the door she poked her head back out again and told me to cover the hole. “I don't care how you do it whether it's collapsing it or fusing the stone together, but I want that hole gone.” I nodded and began pulling a few blocks from the ceiling and walls of the tunnel. I then used them to fill in the hole as best I could. What would not fit I melted and used to fill in and and all gapes, and then cut lines into the blocks just deep enough to give the impression from the outside that it had always been one solid wall.
I smirked. Let them puzzle over that one!
Later on into the evening after we'd all finally bathed and washed ourselves very thoroughly a new servant brought us all meals, even including Applejack, who was given a plate piled with the local tree's large leaves and several fruits. The servant made a face at the food she set down, and then turned to Jackylin and asked if what had been brought was satisfactory. Jackylin replied that it was, however she was still waiting for the pitcher of water that the other servant was told to bring several hours before. She stated this with her arms crossed and her face rather displeased. I'd simply taken the equivalent of two mouthfuls from the bath water that I was going to use and drew the heat and impurities out first before drinking it, but by the time I'd thought to offer the same to Applejack and Jackylin, the servant that was now here had knocked on the door and announced that dinner would be served shortly.
The servant seemed to be confused.
“You pardon, milady, but we were not informed that you wanted any. The servant that escorted you here has did not returned to her daily tasks.”
My eyes landed on Jackylin and I stared hard at her while doing my best to keep my face neutral.
“Regardless, I still want water. Chilled, if at all possible.” Her snooty attitude had returned. The servant bowed.
“At once, milady!” The servant hurried out again. This time I turned my whole head to look at Jackylin. She noticed and stared right back, saying nothing. We did this for a good four minutes before either of us spoke, still holding eye contact.
“A child.” I said quietly.
“You didn't really...?” Applejack gasped, raising a hoof to her mouth.
Jackylin rose from her seat and walked to the window, her arms against her sides. She inclined her head and looked outside at the sky. The green sky. After a few minutes of staring outside she snorted.
“I didn't need to. If that kid chooses not to take my advice she'll be dead within the hour anyway.”
__ __ __ __ __
(Earlier)
Jackylin raised her knife again, then returned it to its sheath. The child beneath her sighed in relief.
“Kid, I'll let you go on one condition: when you return to your master or mistress, tell them that we had a soak in the bath, then we went to sleep. We'll probably be doing that soon anyway.” Jackylin shrugged. “Should I some day have any reason to suspect that you've done otherwise, however,” Jackylin grabbed the kid by her throat and raised her up until they were nose to nose. “you'll not survive to see the end of that day. Understood?” The child nodded rapidly again.
Jackylin shoved the kid down against the stone floor of the passageway and began heading back up the passage again.
__ __ __ __ __
Two days later, the man that Jackylin, Jacob, and Applejack had passed in the hallway after their arrival was angry with a the second person he'd sent to spy on them.
“What do you mean the passageway is gone?!” Faltos roared at the young servant before him. He flinched and his eyes darted about, looking for an escape route should he need it. Faltos' temper was infamous for being short, and unpleasant when lost.
Faltos took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming himself. Anger would not solve anything, nor would it get him the things he wanted. He had met Jackylin before, the arrogant wench! There is a reason that few women are in positions of power, and that is because it is men that are the rightful rulers of Gaea! Men are stronger and smarter than women, even if most of them are faster on foot during the hunt than most men.
That opinion had more than once got him kicked in the nads when voiced to the face of more than one woman, but this did not deter him from spouting his firm belief whenever he got the chance. It was partially this belief that made him loathe Jackylin so much.
What he failed to realize was that the reason most women really were not in positions of power was because most of the men that were thought with their muscles rather than their brains, which made them easy to manipulate, which made it unnecessary to be officially in that position, and more importantly, it shielded the manipulators from looking a fool should a plan go awry. Jackylin herself had used this tactic on Faltos more than once to make him look a fool in front of others, and it had taken him months after each time to rebuild his reputation. He had improved mentally a bit since then, but it seemed now that he had to deal with servants that got lost too easily.
“Your sister had no problem finding their room, and reporting back to me, so why is it that you cannot?!”
“But sir, I went where you told me to go! The tunnel was there, sure enough, but it was a dead-end! I could hear muffled voices, but there was no hole!” Faltos' face became cold and he rose form his seat and drew his sword. The servant took a step back.
“You didn't find the hole, eh?” Faltos moved faster than he should have been able to given him supposedly being out of shape and ran the servant through.
The servant gasped, clutching at the blade sticking in gut and out his back. He looked down at it, his face a mixture of shock and fear. “I'll bet you can't miss that one!” Faltos withdrew the weapon and let the servant stumbled back a step and fall to the floor, his blood soaking his shirt and spreading out on the floor beneath his dying body. Faltos turned away from the fast-fading servant and looked at the younger sister, who looked at her soon-to-be dead sibling and gulped. Faltos pointed the end of his weapon at her. “Find the spy hole, and listen in on what they're doing. She's up to something, I just know it! That clever wench always is!”
The girl fled the room, running for the life-size mural that concealed one of the entrances to the many hidden passages in the castle.
Meanwhile Faltos cleaned his weapon on the pants of the dead servant and sheathed it before calling for another servant to dispose of the body. He took a drink from a glass of beer and frowned. I wonder what scheme she has got cooked up this time around? He set the glass down. Whatever it is, I'm going to find out what!