//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Hunter and the Hunted // Story: Tomb of Magic // by Ice Star //------------------------------// "What is this?!" screamed a shrill voice. Instantly battle ready, I popped out of bed like sparks out of a fire and grabbed my sword. Kaw was at it again. Same mood. Same whiny colt. Different catalyst. Starswirl and Celestia had left the valley some nights ago to visit Clover at the Unicorn Court. She had gotten a position as an advisor to the unicorn princess, which was Starswirl's way of boasting that he tossed her away as a hoofmaiden. This left me and Kaw as the only two equines in this ward-trapped valley. I walked down the stairs as quickly as possible, keeping my sword ready in case he tried to pull one of his self-proclaimed 'pranks'. After going down a few floors, I came to what was designated as Kaw's chamber according to the... rabbit blood... smudged all over the door. Celestia found the side of him that found such fun in cutting apart smaller creatures on a whim to be evil, and I stayed away, knowing that something far worse could lurk below the surface, even though Kawblance would have no idea how to use it. Inside was a large abandoned room riddled with cobwebs and a large but useless fireplace which already had a few stones missing. "What is it that you called me for?" I asked, keeping my voice natural and my expression unreadable. A sooty colt stood in the middle of the floor, tapping his hoof like mad and wearing a ragged excuse for a robe that resembled what happens when you take fire, blade, and weathering to a flour sack - and it had been just that before. It hung on his thin frame and the rag-belt it was tied with swung in the cold air of the unforgiving tower. His raging brown-red eyes bored into my still form, framed by a tangled mane which was probably never brushed since he had come here. He cut short whenever he could, however painful it was and using whatever he could. Since he never even dared to do anything but drink from a pool of water, he was very filthy and I knew that he had lice often. Unlike normal, his scrappy robe was covered in an icky purple sludge that was also smeared across his 'bed' - nothing more than an old poorly made box with old flour and burlap sacks and other useless cloth scraps. Further angered by the silence, in which I had given him plenty of time to respond, he gritted his teeth and screamed in his ever cracking voice: "Well, woods-witch, what do you think?! Somepony ruined this sorry excuse for a bed!" I remained still but also tried to deduce the source of the stain, which would be little trouble if I could focus. Kaw only got like this when he cannot get his hooves on some creature to maul. I knew he ate birds - not their eggs, but the birds themselves. It was disgusting. My best bet was to avoid being a catalyst for him to suddenly lash out. My mouth sank into a slight analytical frown as I cast a glance between him and the crate. "We are both young adults... why do we not try to work this out maturely?" It was true that in this society we would both be considered adults. If we were not already wards, that is. Ten winters old was when one was considered old enough to work a fief, rot in a hut, be drafted, be sold into marriage, and pay the nobility taxes. He snickered and rolled his eyes with a mocking look, brown eyes burning with something disturbing. "Don't contort your features like that, Black-heart, unless you wish to be mistaken for a monster." As quickly as he could move, he stood up on the tips of his hooves and moved his face mere inches from my own and whispered, flicking his brown-eyed gaze down to my wings. "...Not that you already aren't." His twisted and highly informal contractions hit me like stones along with the insult as he stumbled before sauntering back to his former pose, gaunt face leering at me. I allowed myself to cough from his foul breath and then I grew flustered, for what pony would not be offended at being mocked by what should be, and is nothing more than a foal? "Do not go there! Keep your petty remarks to yourself." It was anything but petty. I was already viewed as a monster, and my sister a tamed beast that could be shown about the Court at will. To have the audacity to knowingly term another a monster was no mere slight, even if it was not the worst that could be said of somepony. His mouth twitched upward in a cruel smile at the knowledge he had preyed on another’s insecurities. Then, I swiped a wing-tip through the grime and brought it closer to my eyes. Kaw's small grin vanished and turned into an almost inquisitive gaze, followed by a annoyed snort. "Well privy-eyes, what is it?" His tone was as bratty as ever. I would have bitten my lip and held my tongue. I should have bitten my lip and held my tongue. "Our berries..." How could I have been so loose in thought?! Such a stupid mistake! I made such an effort to conceal the berries from Starswirl that I ruled out the fact that Kaw might squish them. As awkward as it was to do so, I guiltily looked over to him. "We are sorry..." I choked out, growing nervous as he slowly began to go back to appearing angered, but foolishly so. "These are Our berries, and We meant..." There it was: gaunt face etched into a look of stomach churning rage, eyes shining with his partially buried sadism I knew him to be capable of. Mouth tugged somewhere between a scream of rage and a wicked grin. "Foolish witch!" he screamed as best as a pony his age could. "Stupid chant-uttering outcast! You use your brewing components to ruin the only cloak and bed that I own! You think Starswirl will let me mend these?!" "We are not a witch," I whispered practically tasting the wrath I felt coming from him. The small bit of joy he seemed to coddle a minute before was gone, replaced by his sharp tongue and mountains of rage, pure, pure rage. "Oh yes you are! Worse than those siren-creatures the 'ever-so-powerful' Starswirl dealt with! You are a monster!" I broke. In my rage, my wings shot out, ready for flight and exposing my sword whose silver body I had so carefully concealed, tucked under my wing and stored in a simple sheath. "DO NOT COMPARE ME TO THOSE MONSTERS!" Unfazed, he snickered evilly. "So, demon mare, what are you going to do about? Seduce me like those serpent-ponies?" He ran his tongue across his teeth. My stomach dropped and I shuddered. NO. That was the limit, to think I had even attempted to be civil to him. "SHUT UP!" I grabbed my readied sword and jumped, catching him by surprise and bludgeoning him. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" He rolled out from under me where I had pinned him, jumped up and bit my ear. "Ow-w-w-w!" I flipped around and bucked him against wall and put in a slice with my sword. He groaned a bit before he quickly rubbed the deep cut on his cheek. As his hoof touched the blood, a violent gleam filled his eyes. For a brief moment, our gazes were locked until he broke the connection and spit out a tooth. "I hope you enjoy cuts just as much as I do," he whispered. I prepared to bash him back against the wall and strike him off guard in his stomach with the blunt edge of my sword. He anticipated the strike and dodged then stumbled over to the fireplace and grabbed a poker in his mouth, attempting to perform a heavy slam into me. Wrong move. Both of us were lightweight ponies, although I was the larger. Though he was taller than the average foal but shorter than an adult whereas I was taller than an average adult, even if I was not full-grown. He was not balanced or swift like I was. I jumped and angled my wings and did a flying flip, kicking off the wall to propel myself and shooting over towards the open window, standing poised and ready on its frame. Lifting the poker higher, he shifted his weight into what he believed would be a successful strike. When he came close enough, neck raised as clumsily he tried to manage the heavy piece of metal with his mouth, I did a few flying summersaults, nimbly gliding over him and angling my blade so the blunt side of my sword would push him out of the fourth story window. It worked, and there was a look of shock in his eyes as he tripped and then was pushed out - a brief note of panic in his eyes as he screamed and screamed, falling farther and farther. Biting my lip, I stuck out my tongue to test the wind before leaping out the window. It almost felt like fall gust in this cold land. My blade was aimed perfectly as I folded my wings into a hawk-like dive before I glided downwards near the third story to catch the falling Kawblance. He was about halfway down when my teeth grasped his robe's collar causing the outer part to tear as I flipped him onto my back. To 'fix' this, I shifted into a barrel roll and tilted sideways and let the panicked colt slip off again before diving down and catching him and tossing him once more on my back. Under his cloak was a ripped and ragged shirt that was too big for him, and yet it was not nearly as dirty as the rest of him. He likely wore it for warmth, and it looked finer than anything Starswirl owned. I flew towards the Magicspire's stone brick walls and slammed him against it. Kaw screamed and I tossed him up again and let him fall. He attempted to holler out a spell. This time, I let him get within eighteen feet of the ground before darting downward and grabbing him between my front hooves in a way that prohibited movement. "Gotcha," I taunted He was out of breath and wheezing, quivering like mad, and very beat up. His eyes were as large as saucers and frozen with shock. I tilted his shaking form downward and forced him to look at the clearing below, darkened by the spire's piercing shadow. I dropped him again before swooping down and catching him once more, then yet another time, this time even faster. Kaw screamed as if all Tartarus was let loose. At six feet, I drove him into the ground. Dusting off, I poised my blade at his throat and glared down at him. Kaw drew up as best he could in his present condition. I looked him in the eye harder as if daring him to do anything and saw... shock, fear, and a sickening awe. Not at me, but at the violence I had displayed. My stomach churned and I seemed to shrink as the realization hit me like a gale hits a lone bird. I almost killed a pony. A colt no less, and outside of any war. I found myself breathing heavily eyes widening I nervously backed toward the North Woods, throat dry and contracting. Kawblance stood as still as stone, some buried amusement emerging as the right corner of his mouth tugged upward. I am a monster. I almost murdered somepony. This was not a soldier's deed. A voice from the west was followed by quickening hoofsteps. "WHAT HAS OCCURRED HERE?!" Starswirl shouted as he approached, glaring from Kawblance to me. By the stars... I was hyperventilating now. Celestia was not with him but he seemed to possess enough confusion for two entities, after all, I had never demonstrated combat of this kind in training. The only time I had ever shown such strength was in the woods where nopony watched. I had only shown just enough of an inclination toward it that Starswirl thought it right to sell me like a fat pig is sold. A warpig, if you will. A child soldier. The prowess I displayed in magical and physical combat there was subtle, and Starswirl and the Court never got any word of it, as I wished and ensured. As if by a miracle, my heart began to beat even faster. What have I done? I really am a monster. My choked voice came out as a stuttering whisper as my eyes leaked out tears. "W-we-we ar-are so-sorry..." A look so horrifying deepened in Starswirl's merciless eyes. In the woods, wolf howls acted as the chorus of a mournful melody. Although when my ears swiveled back, one voice emerged clearer than all the others. Banshee. I did the only thing I knew. I ran into the woods faster than these two could even blink, my sobbing blending with the melancholy tune. Nopony would find me. Nopony could save me. But perhaps somepony - my sister - could join me in time, after all, good things come to those who wait. My choked cries turned into screaming laughter, as the forest's shadows embraced me, swallowing me up.