Chapter Seven
‘It wasn’t right! It wasn’t fair! This wasn’t supposed to happen!’ These thoughts ran through Wanderer’s mind as he chased Tourmaline through the trees. She galloped ahead of him and sobbed, each one tearing at his heart.
How could this have happened? He should have known better than to let Tormod and Trixie go off into the forest alone. His mistake could cost his friend’s life if they didn’t get him to a hospital soon.
But to do that, he’d need to calm Tourmaline.
“Tourmaline, stop!” he called ahead. “Please!”
She lowered her head and ran faster.
He swore and dug his hooves in deeper, churning up loam to catch up to her. “Will you calm down already?”
She stopped so abruptly that he had to scrape his rump on the ground to stop himself.
“Calm down? Calm down! How can I be calm when my brother is hurt?”
“That is why I need you to calm down. We need to get him to a hospital as quick as we can. I can’t do that if I have to chase you through the forest.”
Her eyes blazed with a renewed rage. “It’s your fault he’s hurt!”
His ears leveled. “How is it my fault? I didn’t stab him in the shoulder.”
She pointed a hoof at his face. “You brought that nag with us! It’s her fault that Tormod got hurt. If you hadn’t insisted we bring her along, none of this would have happened!”
“Tourmal—”
She was in his face in an instant. “Don’t you dare say it was an accident, because it wasn’t! She meant to do it! I know she did.”
His own hackles rose. “Now you’re being stubborn. You’ve always been so emotional about things that you blow them out of proportion!”
“And you never think anything through!” They butted heads. “You always follow your gut—” she spat the word, “—and never listen to anypony! If anyone is being stubborn here, it’s you!” She finally stepped back, but her glare never lessened. “Why did you bring her here, Wanderer? Why?”
Angered disbelief played across his face. “That is your problem? Tormod is injured and that is what’s bothering you?”
Her eyes narrowed at him. “Tell me now, Wanderer, or we’re through! Why did you bring her?”
To say that Wanderer was floored would be an understatement. Why was she threatening their relationship, their friendship, over this? He thought he had made himself clear before as to why he brought Trixie. Didn’t she trust him?”
When he didn’t answer straight away, he saw her anger replaced by grief. When she spoke, he could hear the pain in her voice.
“Wanderer, please tell me, why?”
He looked away, closing his eyes. “It’s… because Tyr—” When he looked back at her, he saw that she was looking past him, and her eyes were wide in panic.
He didn’t have time to blink before he felt something grab his mane and pull his head back. Before he could shout, he felt something sharp prod at the soft portion of his jaw.
“Vida iwka, piwi, owl cqa auzcq lzewsb iioz jtill,” a harsh voice said in a language he couldn’t begin to understand. The point at his neck was more than enough incentive not to move.
He looked quickly at Tourmaline but saw that she too was held captive.
The doe held Tourmaline by the mane and had what looked like a timberwolf’s claw pressed against her throat. The doe spoke harshly to Tourmaline as she tried to struggle. This earned her a prod of the claw weapon and Wanderer saw that it drew a trickle of blood.
“You leave her alone!” He felt his hooves kicked out from under him and he looked up to see a buck level his own weapon at him.
“Xoeac, owl li wic bpeus unuew,” the buck said in that strange dialogue before looking at his companion. “Li iio qude qua?”
The doe roughly shoved Tourmaline atop Wanderer, muttering something with a scowl.
Wanderer wrapped his forelegs around Tourmaline. “Are you hurt?”
She ignored him and looked at their captors with a trace of fear. “Who are you?”
“Xoeac, pini!” the doe said, bringing her claw weapon up to Tourmaline’s face. “Nida va u niil zuabiw ci noc iio.”
Tourmaline backed down from the harshness of the doe’s tone and sat next to Wanderer, only after sharing a quick look with him.
As the two deer spoke with each other, they were joined by two more similarly armed deer. The four began discussing something, occasionally giving the two ponies harsh glares. Finally, the doe of the group spoke to them in that dialect. Her tone made it sound like she was demanding something.
The two ponies shared a look before Wanderer spoke. “We don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Op!” The doe grabbed him and hauled him to his hooves, another buck doing the same to Tourmaline.
Half-baked escaped planes whirled through Wanderer’s mind as the deer pushed them along. These deer were unlike any other deer he had seen across Equestria. The deer he had seen were timid herbivores that some ponies kept as pets, but these deer were far larger. Each of them were the size of ponies, and they walked with a grace that told him they would be fast on their hooves. While the doe only had stubs, the bucks had many pointed antlers—each of them looking very sharp. Escaping from them was not going to be easy.
He glanced at Tourmaline and saw that she was studying their captors as well, though she frequently glared at the doe when ever she pushed Tourmaline from behind.
“Tourmaline,” he whispered quietly. “Any idea on how we can get away?”
She gave her head a slight shake and whispered back. “No. And we can’t lead them back to the camp. They’ll kill Tormod if they find him.”
He glanced to the fierce looking deer and nodded slowly. “We’ll—”
A shove from behind made him stumble. “Xoeac, iio.”
Tourmaline tried to protest, but the doe shoved her. She whirled on the deer with a growl, but found four weapons leveled at her.
She growled softly and glared at the doe. “Push me again, nag, and I’ll break every bone in your body.”
The doe bristled, and they glared fiercely at each other. Wanderer stood ready to pounce should either of them throw a punch. No matter what, he wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
The tension was broken as another doe appeared, yelling for the others.
“Fquc eb ic?” the first doe yelled at the new arrival.
“Fa kupcozal cqaez cuvp uwl cqa icqazb. Iwe im cqav eb fiowlal.”
The first doe glared back at them and pointed to the other doe, motioning them to follow.
Wanderer realized that there might be more of them than he realized, and he frowned before whispering to Tourmaline. “We need to be patient. We’ll find a way to escape later.”
She growled but nodded at him.
As they followed the second doe, Wanderer realized what direction they were traveling in.
“Oh no,” Tourmaline said. “They know about the camp.”
“Keep calm,” he said, laying a hoof on her withers. “They took us captive, so they might’ve taken Tormod and Trixie captive too.”
One of the bucks snapped at them and they quieted down, watching the deer cautiously.
When they made it to the clearing, he could see another group of deer were around the tents, sorting through their supplies and calling out to each other.
“Tormod!”
Before he or the deer could stop her, Tourmaline flew ahead for the tents. She knocked away the deer guarding Tormod’s tent and dashed inside. Her brother was still unconscious and another doe was examining his wounds.
“Get away from him!” she shouted and the doe jumped at her tone. Before Tourmaline could do more, she was yanked out of the tent by her mane. She growled and tried to fight, but found herself tossed towards Wanderer and Trixie—both of whom sat guarded by a number of the deer warriors.
Wanderer looked at her quickly, panic in his eyes. “Is he—”
“He’s alive,” she snapped and glared at Trixie. “Didn’t you at least try to fight them?”
Trixie glared right back at her. “Trixie tried.” She nodded towards a buck with a decent-sized singe on his brown coat that was glaring at Trixie with obvious hatred.
Tourmaline felt her ire slip away. “Oh… good.” She huffed and looked towards the tent that held Tormod, her brow furrowed in concern.
As the deer talked amongst themselves, all eyes turned towards the tent as the doe exited from within. The moment she spoke, all the deer erupted into a furious conversation. As they argued, some would glance towards the captives with a sneer or a look of pity.
Wanderer listened to them for a moment before he looked at Trixie. “Do you know what they’re saying?”
She shook her head. “Trixie thinks they are discussing what to do with us.”
Wanderer turned back to watch the deer point at them or the tents. “It looks like they’re arguing about something.”
Trixie gave him a nervous look. “Wanderer, what are we going to do? We have to get away somehow.”
He scowled in frustration. “We can’t just yet. If we ran, we wouldn’t get away with Tormod.” His gaze drifted back to the deer as their discussion grew more heated, many of them leveling accusatory hooves their way. “Too many to fight.” A sigh escaped through his nose. “We have to bide our time and get away when we get the chance.”
Trixie’s gaze fell to the ground. “Trixie doesn’t like that idea.”
“Who asked you?” Tourmaline fidgeted as she watched the deer, and Wanderer felt he was going to have to restrain her from charging after them.
Finally, the doe from the tent said something and the other deer fell silent. She then asked them questions that the others responded with one-word answers. At the end of it, Wanderer noted that more said ‘wi’ than ‘iaz’. The lead doe sighed and gave the ponies a sympathetic look before saying something to her fellows.
“Wanderer, doesn’t their language sound an awful lot like the saying the tree guardian told us? Trixie thinks it’s the same.”
A soft frown crossed his face as he remembered the saying the tree had taught them. “You think so?”
She nodded.
“What good will that do?” Tourmaline asked.
“What harm will it do?” Trixie countered with a frown. “We should at least try.”
Wanderer looked up as the deer approached them. “Worth a shot.”
Before the lead doe could speak, Wanderer piped up. “E uv u kqetl im cqa mizabc.”
All sets of chestnut-colored deer eyes snapped to him in surprise.
“E uv u kqetl im cqa mizabc!” he repeated.
The lead deer uttered something but one of her fellows yelled in protest, waving her hoof at the ponies.
“E uv u kqetl im cqa mizabc!” Tourmaline shouted, bristling up at the deer.
The doe who had captured her said something harshly, but the lead doe said something else and began the shouting match anew.
“Did… that help?” Trixie asked in a whisper, her eyes wide at the arguing deer.
“They haven’t killed us yet, so I’d say so.” Wanderer looked at both mares as they glared at him. “Think positive, will you?”
Finally, the lead doe approached them. “Nucqaz iiuz cqewnb. Iiu fett cive fecq ob.” She pointed at their saddlebags and then to their backs.
Tourmaline glowered. “I won’t go anywhere without my brother!”
The doe turned a curious look at her.
“My. Brother!” She pointed empathetically towards the tent that held Tormod.
The doe’s gaze followed her hoof and she barked something to her fellows. One of the tents was slashed up and the deer’s antlers glowed faintly. The cut canvas shimmered a similar aura, and a crude stretcher was quickly formed.
Wanderer blinked in surprised and his ears flickered as Trixie spoke. “They can use magic?”
“Terrific,” he muttered as Tormod was placed gently on the stretcher. The deer then tied it to his and Tourmaline’s backs. They had placed her at the rear of the stretcher and Wanderer was relieved to know that she would be able to watch her brother.
Trixie walked beside him as the deer surrounded them and led them through the forest at a brisk pace.
“What will happen to us?” she asked as the singed deer glared at her with undisguised anger.
Wanderer shook his head helplessly as he tried to settle the weight of the stretcher on his back. “I don’t know, but don’t worry. I’ll think of something to get us out of this.”
Surrounded by a group of fierce looking deer, he privately hoped something would keep them all alive.
-0-
Hymns reverberated through the cold stone halls of the underground structure. The low, dark echos would have caused any normal pony to quake where they stood, but to Harbinger, they carried his devotions to the spirit that had gifted him so much. He kneeled before the snake-eyed mural, leading the Bringers through the devotions that the Mistress rightfully deserved.
Even as he raised his voice in praise, he felt the disappointment from his god figure. Each day they didn’t find the key, the more displeased their Mistress became. He could feel the shimmering frustration emanating from her, and he knew that the delay in finding the key had to end—and soon.
Through their prayer, the telltale clank of metal approached. He knew that Stalwart had come with news, but it would have to wait until the hymn was finished. When the hymn finished hours later, Harbinger turned to find Stalwart kneeling behind him.
“What news?”
The armored stallion lifted his head, his eyes still devoid of life. “The savages have captured four ponies, m’lord.”
A disgusted hiss passed through Harbinger’s pointed teeth. “Filthy savages. They have killed our Bringers?”
Stalwart shook his head softly. “They were not our Bringers, m’lord.”
Harbinger furrowed his brow, scowling. “Speak on.”
“There were four of them, m’lord. One was an auburn lad with a gray mane, an aquamarine lass with a teal mane, a dark-blue mare with silver hair, and a brown stallion who was injured. The savages captured them alive and took them deeper into the forest, presumably to their village.”
A feeling tickled at Harbinger’s awareness. He glanced past Stalwart to a number of the Bringers that remained kneeling before the altar. The feeling he felt from them… was it recognition? “Alive you say?” Harbinger asked, looking back at Stalwart.
Stalwart nodded.
Harbinger hummed thoughtfully, pushing past Stalwart to stand over the three he felt the recognition from. All three remained kneeling, not daring to look up at their master. His serpentine eyes glared down at them for a moment before a sneer crossed his face. “How very interesting.”
And a perfect opportunity.
His sneer grew wider and he turned back to Stalwart. “Set scouts to watch the savages’ village Those four will resurface again, and they will lead us to our desires.”
Stalwart pressed his muzzle to the stone floor in submission. “Yes, m’lord.”
Harbinger turned back to the three, his eyes glowing. “Now… tell me what you know about these four.”